A New Feeling
by Simplexrange
Summary: Emily Fields, a now Junior in Rosewood High meets Maya St. Germain. Shortly after their meeting, they become friends, but how long after until Emily realizes that there might be something more? Rated M for future chapters.
1. Chapter 1- The Beginning

**Hello, anyone who is willing to read this. It's my first fic, to be honest. I was going through the Emaya fanfics, and honestly I couldn't really find that many that I liked. It's just an opinion though. After much consideration, over weeks. I decided to write my own. I hope it isn't terrible. There will be more chapters soon, I hope. I would really like to continue this if I got some readers.**

Anyways, this is an Emaya story set during the time when Maya first moves into Rosewood. Enjoy, please leave some reviews, I'd really appreciate feedback. Now, let's get on with the story!

"I'm _so_ not up for this," Emily muttered under her breath while looking at an invitation to celebrate the life of her dear friend Alison, who, only a year ago, was killed by an unknown suspect. Emily loathed the idea of spending a night dedicated to the death of her best friend, but she needed to be there for Alison's mother. As much as Emily was hurt by her friend's death, she knew that her mother felt a pain much greater than her own.

"Emily," her mother called out, "If you're going to the event tonight then you're going to have to find something nice to wear. I know your old black dress was worn at the funeral, so it's best not to wear that tonight. Go ahead and grab my credit card out of my purse. You can drive up to the mall and look for something."

Emily didn't take her eyes off of the card she held between both hands while her Mom talked to her. She reluctantly put the card down next to her on the window seat. Softly, she spoke. "Mom, do you think that it would be bad if I skipped out on the party? I just feel... sick thinking about it."

"I know it's hard, but we have to show respect to the DiLaurentis family. It's tough, the anniversary of their only daughter's death."

Emily scoffed, "Anniversary, huh? That makes it sound like a good thing." Emily looked back down at the card next to her.

"Yeah, well. You had better get going. Party starts at 7. I've got to get to work now. Here." she handed Emily her credit card. "Love you, bye."

She watched as her Mom walked out of the room. Emily grabbed the invitation and the credit card and placed it delicately into her bag. Her thoughts were filled with how the evening was going to go. It's supposed to be a celebration of her life, but the _only_ thing that will be going through everyone's minds, will be her death.

A few moments later, Emily worked up the strength to get out of her thoughts. Before opening her car door, she heard a loud beeping noise that appeared to have come from a moving truck. To much surprise, it parked in front of the house next door, the old home to the DiLaurentis family. _Are they moving back to Rosewood? _Confused, Emily rushed over to the house next door to see none other than Alison's mother. Except, she wasn't alone. Mrs. DiLaurentis was standing next to the truck talking to a girl with caramel toned skin, and beautiful black hair that draped across her chest.

"Mrs. DiLaurentis," Emily called out to reach the attention of her old friend's mother, "Are you moving back to Rosewood?"

With a very pleased look on her face, Mrs. DiLaurentis greeted Emily with a hug before she spoke. "Emily! It's so great to see you. It's been a long time. I think; since the funeral." The words that spilled out of the woman's mouth were said with discomfort. It was clear that she was still not too comfortable with the topic of her daughter. She opened her mouth to speak after a moment of silence. "No, actually. I'm just visiting the old house. I heard that someone was moving in," she shot a glance and a smile at the caramel skinned girl next to her, "and I thought I might come back to say goodbye to the home we once lived in. Kind of a silly thing, I'm sure." She smiled.

All the while she was talking, Emily was looking over to the girl who stood beside her. Her eyes scanned the girl, admiring her figure, and taking note of her choice of style. She wore a pair of black jeans, with a peach colored t-shirt, and a small, tight, pale denim vest that fit her body well.

"Well, I had better get going," Mrs. DiLaurentis said, sighing. Emily jumped at the sudden realization that she wasn't paying much attention to the woman talking. "It was great seeing you again, Emily." With that, the blonde woman walked away and out of sight.

Emily turned her attention back to the girl who was standing next to her the whole time. The girl was a little shorter than Emily, but she didn't look any younger. After staring at her for the better part of a minute, she spoke.

"Hi, I'm Maya. Maya St. Germain." She smiled, all while reaching her hand out to Emily's.

"I'm Emily. Fields, Emily Fields. It's nice to meet you." Her hand reached out back to Maya's, and shook. Emily smiled too, taking in the details of Maya's face.

After they both realized their handshake was lingering on a bit too long, they dropped their hands back down to their sides, and laughed. Emily lowered her head, looking down at her feet, still laughing. Emily couldn't get herself to look back up at Maya's face, she thought to herself...

W_hy am I so nervous? _

**There we go! My first chapter. Hopefully out of many. I think next chapter I'm going to start writing it in POVs to develop the characters more. This chapter I just wanted to set it in place. Please, review! Good, or bad. I would love to know what I could do differently to make this better for the readers. I can tell you now though that the romance it's going to heat up over night. Love takes time. ;) **

**Thank you so much for reading, bye! (:**


	2. Chapter 2- The Window Seat to Heaven

**Hello! This is chapter two of my first Emaya fanfic. I actually received more views than I thought I would for the first chapter. It's not a big amount really, but it's only the first one. Even though it's not something huge, I'm pretty excited for the views and the one person who followed me/reviewed. So, thank you. I hope this one is okay. It took me about 3 hours, I woke up 3 hours ago too. So, I've been doing this all day. Praise me. (Just kidding). Anyways, I hope you enjoy this chapter! (:  
**

* * *

After they both realized their handshake was lingering on a bit too long, they dropped their hands back down to their sides, and laughed. Emily lowered her head, looking down at her feet, still laughing. Emily couldn't get herself to look back up at Maya's face, she thought to herself...

W_hy am I so nervous? _

**Emily's POV**

_How did I get myself into this awkward situation? We're just two people. Maybe I should- _My thought's were cut off by Maya's voice.

"I'm sorry. You were headed somewhere, weren't you? I saw that you were about to get into your car when you came over here."

"Yeah, but it's fine. Don't worry about it. I just need to go buy a dress for a _party_," I did air quotes with my hands at the word _party._ "It's not really a celebration as much as it is a remembrance of the girl who used to live here, Mrs. DiLaurentis' daughter."

"Don't worry, you don't need to give me all the details on her. She filled me in already. I'm really sorry, about your loss."

Maya reached her arm out towards me and softly placed it on my shoulder to comfort me. It was all but comfortable, it made me feel uneasy. Moments after the touch, I cleared my throat to fill the awkward silence that was almost tangible.

"I'd love to stay and chat, but I really should get going. I need to go find something to wear that isn't too depressing, but is also not too happy for the occasion."

"Okay, It was nice meeting you. I'm looking forward to being neighbors with you for the next few years. Oh, and by the way..." Maya gave me a quick smirk, looking at me from head to toe. "You're going to look hot in whatever you decide to wear. Bye." She winked, and then walked over to a box labeled _Maya's Room, _before looking back at me and smiling.

My face flushed, and a lump in my throat kept me from saying goodbye back. I swallowed, and continued back to my car. I opened the door and sat down into the drivers seat. I looked over towards Maya's house. _Maya's house. _The words sounded weird in my head, but a good kind of weird. It was confusing to me, and I couldn't explain it.

_Okay, time to get this over with.  
_

* * *

"Hey, Em!"

The voice was familiar. I turned around and saw a petite girl with dark brown hair, and a dark purple dress on that barely reached her knees. "Aria! You're back from Iceland?"

"Yeah, I am. It's been so long since I've seen you. It's really good to be back, also a little weird." The tone of her voice dropped. "Anyways, I heard that someone new moved into Ali's house?"

"Yeah, her name is Maya. She's cute." I was taken aback by my own words. _What was that? I've never referred to any friend as cute, let alone someone I met only a few hours ago. _

"Oh, Spencer and Hanna are back there talking to Mrs. DiLaurentis. We should go join them." Aria smiled and began walking towards the back table with food spread all over it. I followed.

After the party, I went back home to find Maya sitting outside on my front porch. Her head was buried in her phone, obviously too distracted by it to notice me walking towards her. "Maya?"

Her head shot up. "Hey, Emily! I'm sorry about this really short notice," she looked behind her at a small duffle bag, "We finished moving all of our boxes into the house, but we don't have room to sleep because of them. Do you think it's fine if I crash here? It'll only be for the night, and I promise that I don't snore." She smiled at me, which caused me to put my head down again and laugh nervously. Before I could reply, the front door opened and my Mom stepped out onto the porch with us.

"Oh, hey, you must be the new neighbor," she stopped.

"My name's Maya. Maya St. Germain. It's great to meet you. You must be Mrs. Fields." Maya reached out and shook her hand.

"Hello, Maya. Please, call me Pam. What are you doing here this late?" She looked at Maya curiously with a smile.

"I'm sorry, I was just wondering if I could stay here for the night. The boxes are taking up all of the space, and there really isn't anywhere to sleep."

"That's quite alright with me. You're welcome here any time. You can sleep with Emily in her room." Pam opened the front door again, and wave us inside. "Make yourself at home," she welcomed with a friendly tone.

"Thank you _so _much. I promise that I'll be out of your hair tomorrow."

I joined my Mom and Maya inside, and opened my mouth to ask Maya a question. "Maya, what about your parents? Where are they sleeping?"

"We have a couch that's in the house. It's actually sitting in the kitchen right now. Talk about breakfast in bed," she chuckled. "My parent's are going to sleep on the couch together. It's probably pretty cramped. They offered it to me, but I figured it's better I ask to sleep over here instead of two middle aged adults. So, here I am, and thank you again for letting me stay in your room, Emily." She smiled at me, which caused the same lump to form in my throat.

"Are you hungry at all, Maya?" Pam asked. "We have some leftover shrimp from last night, or I can make you something."

"That's okay. I'm actually allergic to seafood. I get hives, but I ate before I came over here, so I'm good. Thank you though."

I walked over to the stairs, calling Maya over to come up to my room with me. "This is my room, where you will be sleeping tonight."

"It's cute in here," she said. "And you have a window seat looking right into my room. Which means I might get a show every once in awhile. You might want to cover your windows, Emily."

I choked on my own spit. _What did she just say? _I was coughing violently into the sleeve of my jacket over the remark she made.

"Oh, sorry! Are you okay? I was just kidding, I'm not some creepy perverted guy. Trust me." Maya walked over to me and placed her hand on my back, smoothing it over to calm my coughing.

"I'm fine, don't worry. I just started to choke. You'd better not be some creepy perverted guy. I like to leave my window open." I looked over at Maya, who was devilishly smirking at the comment I made. _Why did I just say that? _

"Interestingly enough, so do I." She replied with a grin. My face grew red. "So, tell me about yourself. School, interests, _interests._" Maya strung out that last _interests _with a different meaning behind it. She raised an eyebrow at me.

"Um, well. I'm a junior at Rosewood High. I'm one of the top swimmers on our varsity swim team. I love swimming. I feel so free in the water, and It helps me clear my head. I do it because I love it, not because I want to be the best."

"Interests?" She said with her brow raised again.

"Just swimming, really."

"No, _interests._"

I had tried to avoid that last one. I knew she was asking about the relationship side of my life, but, for some unknown reason, I didn't want to mention that part of my life to her. "Ben. That's his name. He's my boyfriend, has been for a few months now."

"Is he cute?"

"Yeah, I guess. He's a swimmer; like me."

"I had a boyfriend too, before I moved here. His name was Justin."

"Do you miss him?"

"Yeah, a little. We weren't super close. Our relationship always felt a little off to me.. _So," _Maya said, stringing out the word. "Are you okay with sleeping in the same bed as me?"

"If that's going to be uncomfortable with you, I can sleep on the floor."

"No, I'm fine," she said, grinning. "I'm just going to change into something more comfortable." Maya walked over to her duffle bag, and pulled out a pair of thin shorts and a tank top. She looked towards me, and smiled before turning around facing away from me. She took off her vest, and lifted her shirt over her head.

I didn't mean to stare, but I couldn't take my eyes off of her figure. She was very slim, and her curves were sloped perfectly for her. After she pulled the tank top over her head and fixed it around her body, she turned back around and noticed me watching her. I instantly looked away, and I felt an intense heat reaching my face and ears. Maya, pretending not to notice, continued to remove her pants and pull her thin shorts on.

"So," Maya said with a questioning tone. "Are you going to sleep in that dress, or are you going to put something else on?" Maya smiled.

"Oh, yeah. That's probably a good idea." I smiled back at her, but it was more nervous than friendly. I turned away from Maya, not wanting her to see my face redden when I undressed. I was also too scared to figure out if she was watching me undress, just like I was watching her before. I finished putting on some pajama shorts and a t-shirt when I heard Maya speak from behind.

"You have this movie?" Maya said with an excited tone, holding up a DVD copy of How to Train Your Dragon. "I love this movie. It might seem a little childish though, I went to see it in theaters probably a hundred times. I always thought that Hiccup was cute. Don't laugh," she said while smiling at me and pushing me back gently.

"It's okay, I love this movie too. It came out on DVD a couple of weeks ago. I got it from my Dad before he went out on call. Do you want to watch it? I can go make some popcorn."

"Okay, sure. Do you want some help?"

"Yeah, come down. You can grab some drinks."

Maya and I walked downstairs. I put a bag of popcorn into the microwave while Maya grabbed a few sodas from the fridge. After dumping the popcorn into a bowl, we walked back upstairs.

I put the the DVD into my laptop, and placed it in the middle of the bed. Maya and I sat down, myself on the left, and her on the right, leaning against the back of the bed with a few pillows cushioning our backs. I put the bowl of popcorn down on the bed, separating us like a wall.

"You're not trying to push me away, are you?" Maya said, smirking with her usual devilish eyes. Without another word, she picked up the bowl and put it to the side of the computer. She then scooted over closer to me, leaning herself against my shoulder.

"No," I laughed, trying to hide the hue of my face that was getting increasingly warm.

"Well, good. Because, I'm a cuddler. Not on purpose, but my natural instinct when I sleep is to turn over and grab whatever is next to me. I hope you don't mind." Maya certainly looked like _she _didn't mind.

I couldn't bring myself to say anything back. I swallowed the lump in my throat, and smiled back at her. _What is going on with me?  
_

* * *

**Scene! Haha, sorry. I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. It's twice as long as the previous one. Please, review and leave me some feedback. I'd still love to know what you guys would like to see in the story. Anything that could change to make it better. Thank you all, and I'll try to get another one out tomorrow. See you all later. (: **


	3. Chapter 3- The Drum Beat of My Heart

**Hello everyone! Thank you so much for your views, I've gained another follower and review. So that's pretty great and it gives me the encouragement to continue this fanfic. I hope you're all enjoying it. I know my readership isn't huge yet, but I know that's not going to just happen out of the blue. It's triple digits though. ;D Anyways, enjoy chapter three. School's starting. :)  
**

* * *

"Well, good. Because, I'm a cuddler. Not on purpose, but my natural instinct when I sleep is to turn over and grab whatever is next to me. I hope you don't mind." Maya certainly looked like _she _didn't mind.

I couldn't bring myself to say anything back. I swallowed the lump in my throat, and smiled back at her. _What is going on with me? _

As the movie came closer to the end, Maya came closer to me. Leaning further in and eventually resting her hand on my leg. It ran chills up my spin, and caused my heart to beat faster at every slight movement. Something was going on with me, and I wasn't able to figure it out.

The movie ended, and I got up from the bed to put the bowl of popcorn and the computer aside.

"I never get tired of this movie. I feel as though it can relate to all of us. Believing in something, or someone, when nobody else does. Finding love in places and people you thought you never would." Maya's eyes grazed across the room until they met my own. They were deep, and she looked at me as though she was actually looking at _me. _Inside of me. The corners of her mouth raised in a faint smile.

"Yeah, I guess it does," I smiled back. "Are you ready to go to bed?"

"Sure am."

I turned off the bedroom light, and crawled under the covers of the bed with Maya following after me. My back was towards her.

"Maya?"

"Yeah, Emily?"

"You haven't told me anything about yourself."

"I seem to recall me telling you about Justin, and my seafood allergy. It's like you've known me my whole life already."

"But, I want to know more. I mean, you are sleeping in my bed with me." The temperature rose as those words spilled from my mouth.

"Well, what do you want to know? I'm like a book from the restricted section. I don't spill everything about myself to just anybody. You have to be pretty special to open me up." Her voice quieted down to a whisper.

"Anything."

"Well, I'm usually an outsider. Most people find me weird, they try to stay away. I guess I don't do well with others."

"You don't seem to have any trouble with me."

"That's because I like you."

Her words gave me goosebumps. _What is wrong with me? Things like this shouldn't be happening to me, I'm into guys. _

I cleared my throat, "What do you like to do?"

"I like to watch movies, go to swim meets, and stare into my neighbors window."

_Was she flirting with me? _I released a small chuckle, "I assume I'm not special enough to open you up?"

"No, you're special."

I could tell that she said it with a smile, but I never turned around to see. Silence filled the room. Neither of us talked for what felt like an hour. I turned around to look at her sleeping peacefully away from me.

"Maya?"

No answer. I turned back around to face my side of the room, and was quickly engulfed in thoughts of my situation. My head wasn't allowing me to sleep, and half an hour passed with me staring outside the window and up at the moon. I felt the covers shift. My back got increasingly warmer, and an arm draped itself across my chest.

_Man, she really is a cuddler. I guess I won't be sleeping tonight. _I convinced myself that I wasn't going to sleep because the position was uncomfortable, but really, I was very comfortable. And that simple truth was the thing that _did_ make me uncomfortable.

* * *

A week passed since the night Maya slept over. We hadn't talked much since then. It wasn't anything personal, but we were both distracted by other things. I spent most of the week hanging out with my friends and trying to catch up with Aria, who had been in Iceland for the last year.

Today's the start of my Junior year. As it turns out, Maya is going to be a Junior at Rosewood High this year too. The thought of spending the next two years at the same school as Maya excited me. It meant I got to see her more.

I was up and dressed. All I needed now was my bag for school. I walked over to the window seat and picked it up, but before I turned around to leave, I looked up into Maya's room. She was standing over by her closet, trying to find a jacket to wear. She held up to herself a black jacket, and next to it, a white one. I saw her tilt her head to the side, and then drop her arms to her side while letting out a big sigh. I smiled at her indecisiveness. Maya turned around, and looked through her window straight at me.

_Crap, she noticed me watching her. _

Maya walked up to the window and kneeled on her own window seat. She gave me a big grin and held up her two jackets, silently asking me to choose for her. I pointed at the white one. She thanked me with a wink, and a blown kiss. I myself let out a big sigh and walked out the door, hiding the smile that forced itself upon my face.

* * *

"Hey, stranger," Maya walked up behind me, tapping on my shoulder. "Seen any movies lately? Or possibly any teenage girls changing in her room?" She smirked at me.

"Hey yourself, and I wasn't watching you change. I was just lost, in thought." I wasn't being _completely_ honest.

"It's okay, you can spare me the details. At least we know now that _I'm _not the middle aged guy. Oh, and thank you." She raised her arms up to display the sleeves of her white jacket that I had helped her pick out.

I was about to say something when a tall, muscular figure walked in between us.

"Hey, babe, " Ben intervened with a short kiss on my lips, and then grabbing my waist, pulling me in for more.

I almost immediately pulled away from his kiss, and laughed it off while looking at Maya uncomfortably.

"Hey, Ben. This is Maya," I said, shuffling myself over to her side. "She's new here and I need to show her where her first class is, but I'll see you after school at swim practice." I placed my hand on Maya's back and guided her away from Ben, being able to feel the annoyed stare he was giving me from behind.

"Are you okay, Emily?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just not a big fan of PDA." That wasn't completely true either.

"Look, I don't mean to make you feel uncomfortable with your boyfriend. If it's about us sleeping in the same bed together... you don't have to tell him that. I don't know your relationship, so if he's a super jealous type then I can just keep that a secret."

"No. I only like guys, I'm sure he'd love it if I were into girls too. The thought of us sharing a bed would probably make him extremely happy."

Maya shot me an odd look, "Okay, whatever you say. I have chem first period. Walk me?"

The whole thing with Ben made me feel sick. I just could not bare to be close with him in front of Maya. I needed to get out of that situation as quick as I could, so I lied to him and told him I needed to show Maya her classes. I couldn't tell Maya that though, and I couldn't help but notice the weird look she gave me when I told her I only liked guys.

* * *

After first period, I heard someone calling my name in the halls.

"Emily! Hey, wait up. Emily!"

"Maya? What's up?"

"Hey," she said, trying to catch her breath. "Can you show me where the band room is? I have no Idea where we are in this confusing school."

I laughed at her sprint over here, "Yeah, sure. Follow me."

Maya and I chatted while walking to the right wing of the school, but our chat was again interrupted. This time by a text from Ben.

**From Ben: Hey, what's going on with you? **

I looked at the phone awkwardly. I didn't know how to respond. I twiddled my thumbs for a few seconds before thumbing a quick reply.

**From Emily: Can we talk about this later?**

**From Ben: No, you treated me like I was one of your really annoying friends. What's going on?**

**From Emily: We'll talk about this after practice, I'm busy. **

**From Ben: Fine. **

His last message put a rock in my stomach. I noticed Maya looking at me, concerned.

"Emily, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm okay. It was just Ben."

"I know it's not my place to say, but are you sure you actually like him? I know you told me you don't like PDA, but by the looks of it... you just don't like PDA with him."

"No. I mean, he's great," I nodded unconvincingly.

"You know, I heard that if you imagine yourself with someone else, other than the person you're with, then it means you don't really like them as much as you think. So, Emily, can you imagine your self with someone else?" Maya smirked at me, while gazing into my eyes.

I lowered my head at the look she gave me. "I," I cleared my throat. _Again. _"I don't know."

"Okay, how about this. Imagine_ him_ with someone else. Does it bother you?" She took a step closer to me.

Suddenly, as if it were meant to get me out of the situation, I was saved by the bell.

"Crap, late on the first day. The band room is right around the corner."

"Thank you, and I'm sorry for making you late." Maya came closer to hug me. Before wrapping her arms around to hug me, she landed a quick kiss on my cheek, and then finished the hug.

We both laughed nervously, and said our goodbyes as we went our separate ways.

My face got hotter and hotter with every step I took. _She did just kiss me on the cheek, right? What does that mean? It was probably just something she does with everyone when apologizing. Yeah, that's it. Crap, I'm walking too slow, and I can literally feel the steam coming out of my ears. _

Either Maya's band members were drumming very loudly, or my heart was about to explode.

* * *

**That's a wrap! Thank you so much for taking the time to read this. It looks like our favorite little closeted gay has made a little bit of progress with her feelings, whether she knows it or not. Next chapter we get to see some of her friends. Any of you who are willing to leave a review, you should give me some ideas on how you want Emily's friends to partake in this story. I already have some Ideas, but it wouldn't hurt for my audience to tell me what they want. **

**Anyways, thank you again for reading. And don't forget to join us next time for chapter 4. Later. (: **


	4. Chapter 4- Forced Love

**Hello, everyone! I was actually really surprised with the amount of readers I've gotten. I woke up this morning with over a hundred more than I had when I went to bed at 5 am. **

**Also, I got a question from someone asking if A was going to be in this story. No, A will not be in this story. I'm only 15, and I would not be able to create such a story with A in it. I'm not that great of a writer as some of you can tell. Anyways, enjoy the chapter! Thanks again. (:**

* * *

My face got hotter and hotter with every step I took. _She did just kiss me on the cheek, right? What does that mean? It was probably just something she does with everyone when apologizing. Yeah, that's it. Crap, I'm walking too slow, and I can literally feel the steam coming out of my ears. _

Either Maya's band members were drumming very loudly, or my heart was about to explode.

* * *

"Em. Hey, Em. Emily, are you listening to us?"

My head turned to face my three friends.

Hanna opened her mouth again, "Hey, what's up? You've been completely spaced out this entire time. You haven't even started eating yet. Who're you looking at?"

"I wasn't looking at someone. I was just thinking."

This time, Aria spoke, "Oh, wait! Isn't that the new girl you were talking about? Maya, right? You're right, she is pretty cute."

My friends all gave a simultaneous, "Ah." None of them seemed to have been affected by my description of Maya being _cute. _

I turned my head back towards where Maya was. She was standing over near a vending machine talking to someone who was holding a clarinet. I figured that they were in band together.

"So, are you guys planning on going to Noel Kahn's party on friday?" Aria asked curiously.

"I don't think so, Aria. I'm spending my weekend creating a schedule for SAT studying, and organizing all of my school work."

"Gee, Spence. Isn't that a little crazy?"

"It isn't crazy if you want to get into Penn State, Aria."

"Okay, well what about you, Hanna?"

"I guess I'll go. It allows me time to spend with Sean," Hanna gave them a wink. "Em? Emily are you spacing out again?"

I turned my head back to Hanna. I had gotten distracted again. _Crap, I need to stop staring at Maya. Someone might get the wrong idea. _"Huh?"

"Noel's party?"

"Oh, that. Sorry, I don't think I'm going to go. I'm really just not feeling up for any parties." I turned my head back over to where Maya was standing, but this time she was gone. _Probably off to the band room with her friend, _I thought. The familiar school bell rang, releasing us back to our classes.

"I'll see you guys later." Aria said with a smile.

"Bye."

"Later."

"Yeah, see you." I stood up and walked towards the hallway, wishing that I would both see and not see Maya. I didn't see her for the rest of the school day.

* * *

It was 6 o' clock and I had just finished swim practice. It felt so good to be back in the water. I had swam at the local pool many times during the summer, but I missed the atmosphere of the school's pool. Knowing Ben wanted to talk with me, I tried my best to hurry out of the locker room so I could get out of the building before he could talk to me. I finished showering, and changed into my clothes. Quickly, I grabbed my bag and rushed out the door, only to collide into that same tall, muscular figure.

"Ben," I said. "What are you doing?"

"You said we would talk."

"Ben, I don't feel well. Can we please do this another time?"

"No," he raised his voice at me. "You said we would talk, and that's what we're going to do."

"Okay, what are we going to talk about?" I backed up.

"How about why you're acting this way?"

"I don't know what you mean." I lied.

"Ever since a week before school started, you've been neglecting me. You spent the whole last week of school running off with your friends, and you didn't even reply to my messages asking you to come over to my house. Not to mention you completely pushing me away today. You're usually much more into me. Now, answer this. What is going on with you?"

"Nothing is going on with me."

"Like hell there isn't. Emily, you can tell me anything."

"I guess I've just been really stressed about school starting again. I need to have great times in the pool or else I won't be able to get a scholarship, and..."

"And?"

"And... I think I just need some space."

"Some space? You want some space?" Ben began raising his voice again.

"Yeah, I think that's what I need."

"No, that isn't what you need. You've had plenty of space with all of the time you've spent _not _with me. What you need is to spend time with your boyfriend!" Ben's voice almost turned into a yell. He pushed me up against the wall and gripped my arm, tightly.

"Ben, you're scaring me." There was an obvious fear in my eyes. Ben had never acted this way before.

He released my arm and backed up. "I'm sorry. Hey, look at me. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to do that. I'm just a little frustrated, and I miss you. Why don't you come to Noel Kahn's party with me, on friday? We can find some time alone there to _talk _some more."

I could tell that _talk _didn't really mean _talking. _I figured, if I don't like Ben right now, maybe I can _force _myself to like him.

I nodded in agreement.

* * *

I got home from practice and immediately wanted to lay down and relax. I couldn't help but feel exhausted after everything that has happened today. The fight with Ben, Maya kissing me on the cheek. _I just want to relax. _I walked over to my window seat and sat down with a blanket and a pillow against the wall for me to lean on.

Without thinking, I turned my head to the right to look at Maya's room through her window. She was there. Sitting at her window seat too, and she was also looking at me. I leaned my head against the window and smiled at her. She did the same while also waving. For the first time all day, I felt serene. Usually when Maya and I end up in a situation like this, my heart would beat to the point of a near heart attack. But, right now, I just felt calm. I kept my head leaning against the window, and eventually drifted off into a peaceful sleep.

* * *

I spent the rest of the week with Ben as much as I could, trying to make my feelings for him grow. I knew it was wrong, but I had no other choice. I needed to be with Ben.

The night of the party began, and I walked into Noel's cabin with Ben on my arm.

"Hey, Babe, I'm going to go play a game of pool with Noel. A few of your friends said they were coming, right? So you should go talk to them for a little bit, and I'll come find you after. Alright?"

"Okay, sure." I was actually relieved to be able to detach myself from Ben for awhile. I made my over to the beverages and grabbed a plastic cup to fill with soda. While taking a sip, I noticed somebody walk through the crowd of the room. It was Maya.

"Maya?"

"Hey, Emily," Maya gave me a big smile.

"What are you doing here?"

"I met Noel at that coffee shop close to the neighborhood. He bought me a latte and we hung out for a bit. He asked me if I wanted to come to his party, and I accepted. I figured it's a good way to meet new people."

The thought of her spending time with Noel made my heart sink. Pretty much every girl wanted Noel, and Maya was beautiful enough for Noel to want her back.

"Oh, is that so?"

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm here with Ben. He's playing pool with Noel right now. Are you having fun so far?"

"Well, considering I just got here and I'm talking to you. I'd say that I'm having an _excellent _time."

I laughed. Maya always knew how to get me to laugh, even when I felt terrible. Although it made me feel sick thinking about her coming here with Noel, I was glad I got to see her. I've been so focussed on trying to get myself to like Ben, that I haven't been seeing Maya all that much.

Maya and I chatted for awhile, still standing by the beverages. We talked about school, and Ben. I didn't tell her about the fight we had. I just told her that Ben and I were trying to get closer.

"Speaking of Ben," Maya said, smiling.

"Hey, Em. Do you want to dance?"

"Um," I looked at Maya. Before I answered Ben, Noel came over to Maya and asked her to dance too. "Yeah, let's dance." I gave Maya a "goodbye" look, and walked with Ben over to the dance floor. Maya and Noel followed behind.

"I'm really glad you came here with me."

"I am too." I lied, again. It's something I've been doing a lot of recently. Lying to my friends, lying to myself.

"You know, if you still want to _talk, _then I'm sure we can find somewhere quiet where we can_."_

I knew what he meant, and I knew that it might be the only way for me to feel close enough to like him.

"Yeah, let's go."

Ben grabbed my hand and walked me over to a room that was empty. I turned around before entering the room, and saw Maya watching me with an uncomfortable look on her face. _I have to do this. _

Ben closed the door behind us and instantly grabbed me by the waist and kissed me. I wanted to pull away, but I couldn't. His lips felt slimy, and his hands were uncomfortably placed on my waist. I tried my best to act like I was into him, but it wasn't working. I kept going along with it though. His hands slowly crept down my waist and landed on my backside, squeezing it. This is when I involuntarily pushed him away.

"What is it this time?" He said in an angry tone.

"I don't think I want to do this."

"I get it now. You've just been playing me. You act like you want me, but when it comes down to actually being with me, you push me away. I'm sick of being your play toy. I'm out of here." Ben pushed me out of the way, and then out of the room he went.

I wanted to cry. I had hurt someone who meant a lot to me, I just couldn't bring myself to like him in the way he liked me. I walked out of the room with my head down, hoping nobody noticed that I had only spent around three minutes in the room with him.

"Emily, are you okay?" Maya was there, looking at me with a concerned look on her face.

_Crap._

* * *

**Chapter 4 is now complete! I really enjoyed writing this one. So much that I actually wrote enough for two chapters. I think that I'm going to make each chapter around 2000 words. So, in a couple of hours there might be a chapter 5 up already. Please, review and let me know if there's anything you want to see. I always appreciate your comments. Thank you so much. Later! (: **


	5. Chapter 5- Realization

**Hey, again! I know I wrote a chapter earlier today, but I was really excited to get this chapter out. So, here it is! Enjoy. (;**

* * *

"Ben broke up with me."

"Oh, Emily. I'm so sorry. Do you want me to take you home?"

"No, I don't want to be alone right now." That was the truth, I didn't want to be alone. I wanted to be distracted, and I wanted to spend time with Maya. "Where's Noel? I thought you two were dancing."

"We were, but I saw you go into the room with Ben, and you didn't look okay. I got worried."

"You saw that, huh? Yeah, I was scared."

"Scared? Why were you scared?"

I looked down again, trying not to look Maya in the eye. "I don't really feel like talking about this, I'm sorry."

"That's fine, I won't push you to talk. But, whenever you do feel like talking, I'm here for you." Maya reached her hand out and placed it on the side of my arm. "Do you want to dance?"

"Dance?" My heart skipped a beat. I wasn't expecting Maya to ask me to dance. _What does a dance mean? Was she just comforting me? Probably. Girls dance with each other all the time. It doesn't mean anything. _"Okay, let's dance."

Maya took my hand and guided me over to the center of the room. She wrapped her arms around my neck, and placed mine on the small of her back. I was overcome with a feeling of warmth, and comfort. _Why is it that Maya can make me feel both incredibly nervous, and incredibly calm? _The act of dancing with her made me feel fine, and I decided to tell her what happened.

"Ben, he and I had a small fight after swim practice on Monday. I told him that I wanted some space, and he got angry. He raised his voice at me and gripped my arm. I got scared. When he noticed, he apologized. He invited me to come to this party with him. I didn't want to go, but I thought that maybe if I spent more time with him, then I might grow to like him some more. And then, I tried to spend every moment I could with him. When we were dancing, he asked if wanted to go to the room to _talk _with him. Since I still wasn't feeling close to him, I thought it was the only way to like him. So, I went with him. He kissed me, and tried to go further, but I couldn't handle it anymore and pushed him away. He got mad again, and left. We're broken up now because I was leading him on, and I feel awful." I began to tear up.

Maya didn't once look away from me while I talked. She was completely focused on what I had to say. She never interrupted, she just listened. When I was done speaking, we stopped dancing. She removed herself from the back of my neck, and placed her hands on the sides of my arms.

"Emily, you don't need to force yourself to like someone. You should always go for what makes you happy. You're so beautiful," Maya raised her hand and brushed a few strands of hair behind my ear. "Ben isn't the only one who is going to want to be with you. More will come along, and they will keep coming until you find the one person who makes you really happy. You'll know you really like them, because you won't need to pretend. Give it time," Maya smiled. Her voice was so calm and reassuring.

I looked into her eyes, this time not looking away. Her eyes were so deep, and beautiful. I couldn't look away, even if I tried. _Why, Maya? Why do you know what to say to me? Why do you make me feel this way? _My thoughts took over my actions. I hadn't the slightest clue what I was doing. I leaned in. Closer, and closer to Maya. I never broke eye contact with her, and she didn't break it either. I was inches away from Maya's face now. _What are you doing? You can't do this. Stop. _

I pulled back, finally aware of what I was doing. _I was NOT about to kiss her. _

"Emily, what's wrong?" Maya was concerned again.

"N-nothing. I don't feel well."

"Do you want me to drive you home?"

"No, that's okay. I can walk. I don't want to ruin your night, you can go dance with Noel. I'll be fine." I began to walk away.

Maya grabbed my arm to stop me from walking away, "I don't want to dance with Noel. Please, let me take you home."

I swallowed a lump in my throat. _Why am I relieved that she doesn't want to dance with Noel? _"Okay."

Maya walked me out to her car and slipped me into the back seat to lay down while she drove me home. I wanted to talk to her about what happened, but I didn't know how to bring it up. It was terrifying, the thought of what I almost did to her. _She would have pushed me away, and I would have lost a friend who meant a lot to me. I can't do that. _

Maya stopped at a light, "When we get back to your house, I'll get a shower ready for you so you can relax. I guess the breakup took a toll on your health. It's okay, it happens to all of us. You just need some rest, I promise." She gave me a reassuring look, and continued driving.

* * *

We pulled up into the driveway, and Maya walked me over to the front door. I let ourselves in and carried on up the stairs into my room. Immediately upon entering the room, I landed myself on my bed face first. I heard Maya chuckle.

"Emily, you're going to make yourself feel worse that way. Also, the lack of oxygen you're getting could suffocate you." She sat down next to me and flipped me over, "Come on, get up. I'm going to go get the shower ready for you." Maya got up and treaded over to the bathroom. I heard the water from the shower head pouring down. Not long after, steam began to cloud the room. Maya walked back in.

"Okay, it's ready. I'll be in here waiting for you. Now, go enjoy yourself," Maya pushed me into the bathroom with a grin creeping onto her face.

I leaned against the bathroom door for a few moments, my heart beating like a drum. I removed my clothes, and hopped into the shower, soaking in every moment of comforting heat.

* * *

After the shower, I wrapped my hair and body in a towel and stepped back into the room. Maya was sitting on the window seat, looking out. She must have heard me close the door, because her head turned towards me.

Maya laughed, "You really can see into my room well from here, especially at night." She glanced down my figure, "Enjoy your shower?"

"Yeah, thanks. You really don't have to stay, you know."

"I want to stay, I can't leave you alone after what happened tonight."

Normally I would want to be alone after something like that happened, but, not this time. I wanted someone to stay with me. No, I wanted _Maya _to stay with me.

I grabbed a few items of clothing from my drawers and closet, and hid myself behind a door to get dressed. I could feel myself being watched, but I felt too embarrassed to check. Besides, she wouldn't be able to see _all_ of me. I put on some shorts and a t-shirt. Removing myself from behind the door, I made my way to the window seat and sat with Maya.

"Are you feeling any better?"

"Kind of, not much," I gave her a smile, which soon faded and ended in me lowering my head down to look at the floor. I remembered what I almost did at the party. _I almost kissed Maya. _

"Em, what's wrong?"

It looks as though Maya caught onto my nickname. I liked the sound of it.

"About the party," I began. "I'm really sorry, I didn't mean to-" I was cut off by Maya.

"Save it," she stated.

My heart sank. _Here we go. _

"The party really wasn't that big of a deal for me. It was just something to do, so don't worry about it. You didn't ruin my night, promise." Maya put her hand on my knee, and smiled sweetly at me.

_She doesn't know that I'm talking about the kiss. Maybe it's better this way, I don't want to ruin anything. At least I know now that she isn't aware of what almost was. _

"Besides, I would much rather spend this night with you. I'm not a big fan of parties." The hand that was resting on my knee was now softly moving up and down on it.

My heart was pounding again, and I could feel myself shaking. Maya's hand softly touching me was beyond comforting. I wanted to remain like this forever, and it sickened me that I felt this way. But, I couldn't help it. I looked back into Maya's eyes, trying not to get too entranced by their beauty. _Dammit, this is exactly what happened at the party. I need to look away. _

I cleared my throat and stood up, trying to remove myself from the situation I had just been in. "Do you want to watch another movie? I have Napoleon Dynamite. Maybe some humor will be good for me." I gave her a fake smile.

"Yeah, sure. That sounds good."

Maya and I sat back onto the bed, just like last time we watched a movie together. Although, this time, Maya wasn't leaning on me. I was leaning on her. I felt guilty for wanting to be close to her. I was trying to keep a distance so I wouldn't scare her off, but tonight, I needed this.

Thirty minutes of the movie passed, and I began to think. I thought about Ben, and I thought about Maya. I guess I had been thinking too much to realize that I was shaking again.

"Em," Maya paused the movie. "You're shaking; are you cold?" She pulled me in closer.

I shook my head, "No."

"You're thinking about Ben again, aren't you? I told you, you don't need to worry about him. I know you feel like you lost someone special, but you're opening yourself up to being happy with someone you truly like. I mean, I like you. I know for a fact that others will."

_There she goes again, making me feel this way. _

Maya put her hand on the side of my face, and kissed my forehead. I began to cry. This time, much harder.

"Emily..." She grabbed me by the waist and pulled me in for a long, lingering hug.

I continued to cry.

_I have feelings for Maya, and it isn't right._

* * *

**Wowza! It looks like Emily has finally admitted to herself that her feelings for Maya may not be completely platonic. **

**Thank you everyone for reading, this chapter was so much fun to write. As I mentioned last chapter, I wrote this one at the same time, but split it up into two. Please continue to leave me some comments and ideas as you see fit. Another chapter should be out tomorrow. I'm really liking where this story is headed, and I hope you all are too. Thanks again. Later. (:**


	6. Chapter 6- Revealed Secrets

**Hey everyone! I hope you're all having a fantastic day/night/whenever you're reading this. This chapter is, after the first scene, entirely with Emily and her friends. I won't keep you waiting any longer now. Read on, and please enjoy! (:**

* * *

I continued to cry.

_I have feelings for Maya, and it isn't right._

* * *

"Emily, are you all right?" My Mom asked me while she handed me my dinner. "You came home last night from the party, but you hadn't been gone for more than two hours. I didn't want to ask you while Maya was here."

"I'm fine, Mom. Really, I am." I guess my tone wasn't convincing enough, because she continued to ask questions.

"Are you sure? You don't look sure. Did something happen at the party?"

"It's nothing to worry about, I just got sick."

"You weren't drunk were you? Because, Emily you know how I feel about you drinking."

"I wasn't drunk! I didn't even drink there. I just," I sighed and slumped into my chair. "Ben and I broke up."

"Oh, honey. I'm sorry, I know you really liked him."

That wasn't true, but I couldn't tell her what was.

"It's okay Mom, really. I'll get over it. I just couldn't stand to stay at the party after that. Maya drove me home and stayed with me to make me feel better."

"Well that was really nice of her. We should invite her and her family over for dinner one night. They've been here for a couple of weeks now, yet we haven't had a real conversation with them. What do you think?"

The thought of having dinner with Maya sounded great. It also made me feel sick, because I knew of the real reason why I wanted to have dinner with her. I had only realized my feelings last night while she was comforting me. _I can't keep these feelings though. I need to push them away. I care about her enough to push them away. _

"It sounds great," I gave her a fake smile.

"Honey, I know you're still not feeling well after the break up, but you need to eat to remain healthy. An old wives tale states that a broken heart can be healed with three things. Food, laughter, and a dozen eggs on his car."

I looked up at my Mom and laughed, "I'm not going to egg his car."

"Good, because I wouldn't allow it. You'd be grounded so fast."

My Mom and I glanced at each other before we broke out in laughter. At that moment I figured, _maybe pushing my feelings down won't be so hard._

* * *

**From Hanna: Hey, Em! The girls and I are hanging at my place tonight. Wanna join? (:**

I looked at the text after dinner, and quickly thumbed a reply.

**From Emily: Sounds like fun, I'll be over in 30. (: **

**From Hanna: See you soon! **

"Mom, can I go over to Hanna's?"

"Yeah, but don't come back too late tomorrow. You've still got school on Monday."

I ran upstairs and grabbed a few things that I required to spend the night at Hanna's. _A night with the girls is exactly what I need to get my head in the right place._

* * *

"Em, hand me that blanket over there, would you?"

I handed it over to Spencer. We were watching Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

"Okay, seriously Ron," Hanna scoffed. "I don't care if your Mom did give you that outfit. It needs to be burned."

"Look at you being the fashion police over there," Aria laughed.

"Okay, look. I can deal with those awful pointy wizard hats they wear. They're a bit stereotypical. I like stereotypical, but, that gown Ron has on. Uh-uh, honey. I will personally hop into the TV and set it on fire."

Spencer shot Hanna a distorted look before she spoke, "This isn't blues clues, Han. If you ask me, I think you're way too into fashion, and it might be a little unhealthy."

"Look who's talking, Miss Anal," Hanna rebutted.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Calm down guys. We're not turning this night into Harry Potter and the Attack of the Friends. All right?"

Spencer and Hanna both smiled at each other, proving their comments were merely jokes.

It felt good hanging out with my friends. They always helped to get my mind off of things. Granted they didn't know they were, but they still did.

My phone buzzed. It was a text from Maya.

**From Maya: I hope you're feeling okay. XOXO **

I stared at the text, smiling, but I didn't notice that I was. My friends seemed to have noticed though.

"Oooh, why are you smiling, Em? Is Ben texting you?" Hanna jokingly nudged my shoulder.

_Crap, what was I supposed to tell them? I can't lie to them about breaking up with Ben, but I couldn't tell them about my feelings for Maya. _

"It's not Ben," I stated, awkwardly.

Aria looked shocked. "You're not cheating on Ben, are you?"

"You're fornicating with another person behind Ben's back?"

"Fornicating, Spencer? Really?"

Spencer innocently looked at Aria.

"No, I'm not cheating on Ben. We, um," I sighed. "We broke up; at the party last night."

All three were shocked, and it was silent until Aria decided to speak up.

"Wait, I thought you said you weren't going to the party?"

"I wasn't, but Ben asked me to go." I filled my friends in on what happened that Monday after school.

"So, what about the party? Why did he break up with you then?"

I had to stop and think to make sure the next thing I told them was all right. _I can either tell them that Ben tried to force me to do something I didn't want, or I could tell them a modified version of the truth. Knowing Hanna, she would do anything to get back at him if I told her he tried to force me into something I wasn't comfortable with. _

"I didn't feel the same way that I used to. I guess he figured that out, and broke up with me before I could string him along."

Spencer spoke up this time, "So, this person you're texting. Are they the reason you lost interest in Ben?" She raised an eyebrow at me while smirking.

I've never been too good at lying to my friends. I usually end up giving it away with a tell that neither of them will let me know of.

I shook my head, "No, of course not."

"Oh my god, you're so lying!"

"Seriously, Hanna, how do you know these things?"

"Can't tell you," she said with a wink. "Now, who is it?"

Hanna was very excited and loved to be involved in my love life. More so than any of my other friends.

"It's no one, don't worry about it."

"Well obviously it's some one! Your eyes got all glazed and you smiled at the name on your phone. Spill."

"Come on, Hanna. She doesn't want to say. We can't force her. Some relationships are just better kept a secret sometimes, at least for awhile."

_Thank you, Aria. _

Spencer looked at Aria curiously. "What are you hiding?"

"Nothing." Aria avoided eye contact.

"Em, you can tell us anything. We're not going to judge you. It doesn't matter who you're with, we just want you to be happy." Hanna's eyes beamed at me.

_I could tell them, but what's the point? I'm not going to pursue whatever this thing is with Maya. I can't; it's impossible. _

I gave in to Hanna's peer pressure.

"Hypothetically speaking... say I like someone, but they don't like me back, and it's impossible for me to be with them because it's wrong."

"Well, Em. It's blatantly obvious that this question isn't hypothetical."

Sometimes I really hate Spencer's blunt intelligence.

"Okay, fine. What do I do?"

Aria spoke up again, "Em, love isn't wrong."

"I don't think it's love." I interrupted Aria with a tone that was more rude than I intended. "Sorry."

"Okay then..." She started back up. "Feelings aren't wrong. They can't be. It's something inside of you that makes you who you are. It can't be wrong. You should follow your heart, no matter what anybody says. No matter how wrong society makes it out to be. The only opinion of your relationship that matters... is your own."

"Okay Aria, we're going to focus on you right now. Who are you seeing?" Spencer once again looked over at Aria with a curious face.

"No one."

We all raised our eyebrows at her.

Aria scoffed, "Fine." She opened her mouth, and with an innocent tone she mumbled, "Ezra."

"Ezra, who?" We asked simultaneously.

"Fitz..."

"Our english teacher?" Hanna and Spencer were completely surprised by the news of their best friend seeing their english teacher. I was surprised too, I mean, who wouldn't be? It's frowned upon by the whole nation. All I could think of though is that at least Aria was in love with a man. Because I, for one, had feelings for a girl.

We talked for a good hour all about Aria, Ezra, and their relationship. It took us awhile to get used to the idea of our best friend dating a teacher, but we eventually came around to the idea. They loved each other; it was apparent.

I knew that after the initial shock and conversation about Aria was over, the attention would be directed towards me again. I was prepared for that. Aria had the courage to tell them the truth, so I should too. If my friends can accept her relationship, then they could surely accept mine... in time. _Right? _

"I love him, and now that you guys know you can NOT tell anyone. If Ezra finds out that you guys know, he'll freak out and go all AWOL."

"We promise," Hanna smiled at her recent discovery of their relationship. She really did love being involved.

"Now, since we've established this whole thing, I think it's time we turn the attention away from me, and back to Emily." She raised her brow.

"So, Em! Time for you to give us the details, the inside scoop, the spilled beans."

"Enough of that," Spencer said to Hanna with a disgusted look on her face.

Hanna shot Spencer a sarcastic smile, "Fine, who's the guy?"

I began to shake again, I was scared. This was all new to me. I let out a deep sigh, and shrugged.

"It's a girl."

* * *

**Scene. :D I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter because it was so much fun to write. I liked trying to write all of their personalities, and I'm hoping that I did it justice. Hanna with her extreme sense of fashion and her overly enthusiastic self. Aria and her secret relationship which is now NOT a secret to her friends. **

**I think that writing Spencer's lines were my favorite. She's pretty sarcastic, and blunt. Overall this was really just an awesome chapter to write. I had to stop and laugh at what I wrote sometimes. Is that weird? I hope not. My Mom's an author and laughs at her own stuff all of the time. **

**Anyways, thank you all so much for reading! Remember to leave me any ideas, comments, reviews, anything. I love you all. Thanks again! Later. (: **


	7. Chapter 7- Perfectly Round Fried Eggs

**Hello there, everyone. I'm putting out this chapter because I woke up like 5 hours earlier than usual today and posted a chapter already. Since it was out much earlier, I decided to write this one and post it. Most of you are asking for me to put more out, and to write longer chapters. So I'm going to tell you guys something. **

**I'm sorry to say, but I will not be writing longer chapters. If I write my chapters too long then I run out of ideas, and then this fic won't be as long as I want. And I want this to be a long fic, and I think some of you do too. So I hope for your continuous support in this. **

**Oh, and before we start I want to clarify some things that might be confusing in this story. In the show, Maya's parents were never named. So, I named them myself. Maya's mother's name is Jean, and her father's is Phil. I hope that isn't awful for you guys. Anyways...**

**Let's get on with the reading, shall we? :D**

* * *

Hanna shot Spencer a sarcastic smile, "Fine, who's the guy?"

I began to shake again, I was scared. This was all new to me. I let out a deep sigh, and shrugged.

"It's a girl."

They were speechless. None of them said anything for a good while. It seemed more of a shock to them than it did when Aria confessed her involvement with Mr. Fitz. I mean, their best friend did just announce that she had feelings for a girl. They've only known me as the type to like guys, and now, I'm different to them.

_Great. _

"Wow." Hanna finally said something.

"I know it's a surprise, I'm sorry if it freaks you out and scares you away. I just," Hanna cut me off.

"No, Emily no. It doesn't freak us out. We love you. Sure, we didn't really expect it, but it doesn't change anything. You like a girl, big deal!"

"Yeah, Em. We'll support you whoever you decide to date." Aria should definitely be supportive.

"I'm not so sure I'm going to be dating them."

"Why? Who is it?" Spencer decided to speak up.

"I don't want to say. It wouldn't matter if I did, I'm not going to be with them."

"Come on, Em. If you don't tell us then we're just going to look around for her. I'm sure we can figure it out. With your tells, it wouldn't be hard."

"I'm not going to tell you guys , and you wouldn't be able to figure it out. I'm pushing these feelings down as hard as I possibly can."

"Oh my god." Hanna stood up, her eyes widened and mouth hanging open.

"What?" We asked, simultaneously.

"It's that new girl isn't it? What was her name, um. Maya! Yeah it's Maya! Isn't it?"

"Seriously, Han. How do you do these things?"

"I knew it! You were totally checking her out at lunch on Monday! I just thought you were plotting 15 different ways to injure her at night through the walls of your bedroom, but, no. You were girl crushing, awww."

Spencer and Aria shot Hanna a look that could only be described as _strange. _

"Okay, fine. Yeah, it's Maya. But it's not like I can be with her. She's straight. She and Noel had coffee together, and he invited her to the party. They danced together. I'm sure she's into him."

"Emily, it's a dance; not a marriage proposal. She probably just went to the party because she's new, and wanted to meet more people."

"Okay, but she had a boyfriend before she moved here."

"Em, you had a boyfriend before she moved here."

Hanna, Spencer, Aria and I talked about it for a long while before crashing. What Hanna said was right, being with Maya may not be completely impossible. Before I met her, I thought that I was only into guys. Not everything is set in stone. I wouldn't fight so hard to keep my feelings down, but I also wasn't going to force them on her. Or make them known, for that matter. It was still new to me, and very terrifying.

* * *

I woke up to the sound of my phone ringing loudly in the downstairs living room of Hanna's house. I picked it up and answered.

_Mom?_

_Hey, honey. I invited the St. Germains over for dinner tonight. Be home soon so we can clean up the house. _

_Alright, Mom. Yeah. Love you too, bye. _

"Is your mom okay?" Aria woke up, her voice was weak.

"Yeah, she's fine. I have to get home, we're inviting Maya and her family over for dinner tonight."

Hanna rose quickly at the subject of Maya. "Oooh, a nice dinner date with Maya?" She winked.

"It's with her family, Hanna."

"Fine, fine. It's still dinner with Maya thought. It's close enough to a date."

I rolled my eyes, but I liked the idea. A date. With Maya.

"Okay guys, I'm sorry to have to bail on you. Tell Spencer I said bye when she wakes up. Thanks for last night. Bye."

I left Hanna's house and got into my car. On my way home my thoughts were filled with how tonight would go. Even though Maya and I had hung out a few times before, I've never had a long talk with her parents. I knew that it wasn't a date, but I was nervous as if it was.

* * *

"Ah, the St. Germain family! Welcome, welcome. It's great to have you all here tonight." My Mom sounded very enthusiastic.

"Hey." Maya looked towards me and smiled.

"Hi." I couldn't help but blush a little.

"Well, if you'll follow me into the dining room we can all take a seat. Dinner is almost ready, we're having chinese food. My mother loved chinese food when she was growing up, and she made her own recipes. I hope you'll like it, and don't worry. There is no seafood in this. I know that Maya's allergic."

We made our way into the dining room. Mrs. and Mr. St. Germain sat side by side on one side of the table, and Maya and I on the other. My Mom sat at the very end of one side.

"So, Phil, Jean, how are you liking Rosewood?" My Mom tried to make small talk while we waited for dinner to be ready.

Jean answered, "It's a big change from California. The weather's a bit hotter this time around there. It is pretty nice to be in cooler weather."

"What about you, Maya?"

"I really like it here. As you mentioned, the weather's nice, and the people are even nicer." Maya shifted her eyes over to me and grinned.

I smiled into my drink.

The timer dinged in the kitchen and my Mom stood up. "Oh, dinner's ready! I'll be right back."

Phil talked this time, "So, Emily, Maya's talked about how great of a swimmer you are."

_She talks about me?_

"I wouldn't say that i'm great. I am pretty good though. I have the top slot in our races, and i'm trying for a full scholarship somewhere with a great swimming program."

"Do you plan on swimming professionally?"

"Maybe. It's something I really enjoy doing. I'll just have to see how things turn out for me."

My Mom walked back into the room holding multiple plates. She served Phil, Jean, and Maya first, and then came back with dinner for her and I. We said grace per her request, and then dug into the food.

"Pam, this is really good. Is this soy sauce?"

"Actually, Jean, it's a mixture of soy sauce and another ingredient that i'm afraid I can't give away."

Maya and I had our own conversation while our parents talked. It wasn't much talking, it was more random looks and smiles that got our points across. At one point when our parents were too distracted in each others stories to notice, Maya picked up a piece of her leftover chicken with her fork and put in front of my mouth to eat. I put my mouth on her fork to bite it. We both laughed, but Maya's was more of a giggle, and mine was nervous. _She's so cute. _I had to push my thoughts away, and I turned my head away from Maya to break the contact.

"Um, Jean, Phil. How did you two meet? I noticed that there's no real ring." I glanced my eyes back at Maya who stopped laughing and was now focusing on her food.

"Well, the really story is how I proposed. It was a spur of the moment thing. It felt right, but I didn't have a ring to give her. So," he stopped to laugh. "I pulled a sharpie from my pocket and drew one on her finger. After it wore off we went to a tattoo parlor and got one permanently tattooed on her finger."

My Mom laughed, "That's really great."

"Not to mention cheap," Jean jokingly pushed her husband.

* * *

After desert and more small talk with Maya and her parents, they left for home. Maya didn't say much after I looked away from her when she had fed me.

I finished cleaning up the kitchen and headed upstairs to prepare for the school day tomorrow. During the first week of school, Mr. Fitz assigned a book for us to start reading over the weekend. The Great Gatsby.

_I guess I should start reading. But really I just want to sit down and relax. _I tried reading as much as I could, about 7 pages later I got too tired and bored to read any longer. _I wonder what Maya's doing... _Like always I got consumed by thoughts of Maya and ended up looking out into her room again. She was sitting on her bed looking at a magazine. _I wonder what she's reading..._

I watched her read her magazine for a few minutes, and for a split second I saw her smile. She reached for her phone from her back pocket and began tapping on the screen. I received a text.

**From Maya: They say that when cooking eggs you should place them inside of an onion ring to get a nicely rounded fried egg.**

Confused, I replied.

**From Emily: What?**

**From Maya: The magazine that I'm reading. You looked curious. (;**

_I really need to stop looking out my window. It's like she has eyes all over my room. _

**From Emily: Haha okay, you caught me. Congratulations. Why are you reading a cooking magazine? **

**From Maya: I'm learning how to cook. My parents think that it's a skill required for all women. I guess they liked being cooked for today, so thank your mom for me. **

**From Emily: Oops, sorry. :( **

**From Maya: It's all right. At least I'll be able to return the favor and cook for you some time. (: **

I grinned at the text, and I could feel the room getting warmer. Scared that I might say something to her that I would regret later, I decided to tell her I needed to sleep.

**From Emily: I'll hold you to that. Listen, I've got to get some sleep for tomorrow. See you later, night. **

**From Maya: Goodnight.**

* * *

**I hope you enjoyed this pretty short chapter. Two chapters a day two days in a row? What is going on with me? I need to slow down before the fic ends in a week. Thank you so much for your support. Your reviews and comments are awesome. Something really got me down today, and reading them made me feel so much better.**

**I think you guys might enjoy the next couple of chapters. Let's just say... there's going to be a little bit of controversy between Emily and Maya. Later. (; **


	8. Chapter 8- Confrontation

**Hey guys! Today another episode of Pretty Little Liars comes on! I'm pretty excited for some more Paily scenes. As you guys may remember what I said in the last chapter, this one will have a little bit of a dispute between the Emaya pair. I'm really looking forward to writing it. I spent all night in anticipation for this chapter. So, let's get going. :D**

* * *

The weekend ended. It was now Monday of the second week of my junior year. A lot happened over the weekend. I realized my feelings for Maya, I learned about Aria and Mr. Fitz, my friends founds out about Maya, and Maya came over for dinner with her parents. It was definitely _not_ a boring few days.

Sitting in English was now extremely difficult. Not just for me, but for Spencer and Hanna as well. Our best friend was dating the teacher. All we did during class now was try and pick up signs of their relationship. Turns out that they hide it really well. Aside from the glances every so often, they looked like they had a normal student teacher relationship.

Although, I wasn't all focused on Aria and Mr. Fitz. I was also focused on my thoughts of Maya. _When am I going to see her again? I'm so eager to be with her, but I can't act that way. It'd freak her out. _

Class was dismissed for that period, and I walked out of the room along with my three friends. We talked while we made our way towards the next class. Our own chatter masked the sound of Maya calling out to me. I felt a tap on my shoulder.

"Hey, Em. I've been shouting your name!" She was out of breath again, just like last monday.

Aria, Spencer, and Hanna all at once grinned towards me and left me with Maya.

"Sorry, I didn't hear you. What's up?"

"Remember how I told you that my parents were trying to teach me how to cook? Well, I burnt my toast this morning and it made them realize that it was going to take a professional to teach this mess of a person."

I chuckled, "So, what? Are they signing you up for some cooking classes after school?"

"During school, actually. They came up with me to school this morning and removed me from technology. I'm now in nutrition."

"That sounds like a fun class. You get to eat what you make, but it can get pretty crazy in that class. Last year a few jocks spilled brownie batter on the floor and decided to make it a chocolate chip-n-slide. You'd better keep a change of clothing in your locker."

"Thanks for the tip," Maya laughed. "Anyways, I found at that there is an assignment due on Wednesday. Everyone has to make a family recipe at home. It can be anything, but I have no clue what to make. I wouldn't even know how to make it. My parents have a book of family recipes somewhere, but it got lost in the move."

"Say no more. I'll come over later with a few recipes my Mom has. It'll be our little secret."

Maya pulled me in for a hug. "Thank you, thank you, thank you. You're a life saver." She let up on the hug. "You have swim practice after school today, right? How's tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow," I smiled in acceptance.

"Tomorrow," she smiled back.

The rest of the day went by slowly. I went to swim practice, and then went back home to find a recipe book for tomorrow. I didn't want to find anything too complicated, step-wise. This _was _Maya's assignment. We were already cheating by using my family's recipes and not hers.

I was so excited for school to end the next day. My eyes were fixated on the clock; watching and counting down every second.

* * *

"Okay, what are we making?" Maya walked over to the cookbook that I held open in front of me.

"I was thinking we could do fudge. You have to melt a whole bunch of chocolate, marshmallow fluff, sugar, butter and cinnamon into a pot of boiling milk. You have to stir it constantly for about twenty minutes until it thickens. Then you pour it into a pan and let it sit room temperature for about four hours." By the look Maya was giving me, she was lost.

"Okay, I'm not too sure what all you said... but it sounded very boring and difficult. How about a cake?"

I laughed, "Cake is simple."

"Sounds like my type of dish." Maya grabbed a spoon and spun around towards the fridge.

"Okay, so we're going to need chocolate cake mix, milk, eggs, sugar, semi-sweet chocolate, and raspberries."

"Raspberries?"

"Yeah, we're going to make a raspberry sauce to drizzle over the top of the cake."

"I thought this was supposed to be a simple recipe?"

"Well, if you make it too simple then it won't be all that impressive, will it?"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Let's get this over with. We're going to need all the time we can get to clean up the explosive cake I end up making."

_I love her humor. _I shook away my thoughts and grabbed a bowl from the cabinet. Holding the recipe book up to my eyes, I read aloud, "Crack two eggs into the mixing bowl."

"Are you sure you don't want to do it?"

"This is your assignment. Come on, get crackin'."

Maya took an egg with her hand and tapped it on the side of the counter. When she hovered it over the bowl, her hands separated two sides of the egg, allowing the inside to pour into the bowl. Along with half of the egg shells. I chuckled at her awful egg cracking skills and fished out the little bits of shell from the bowl. It took several minutes filled with laughter and groans of frustration to remove them all.

"Okay, now that that's over we need to pour in the milk and cake mix."

"Measuring, and pouring. _That_ sounds wonderful." She grabbed the powder and milk and poured them straight into the bowl. After mixing the batter together, we pre-heated the oven.

"All right, all that's left for this part is to put the batter in a pan to put in the oven."

"Easy enough." We lifted the bowl over the circular pan and scraped as much of the batter from the sides as we could. "I know I asked you to help me and all, but i'm still the one who's licking the spoon."

I laughed, "Didn't your parents ever tell you not to eat raw eggs?"

Maya stepped closer to me. We were only about a foot away, she stopped and grinned at me with her eyebrows raised while licking the spoon.

I began to blush, but tried to hide my nervousness by talking. "Aren't you a rebel?"

At that moment, Maya's grin turned into a devilish smirk. "Hmm?" She flicked the spoon forward, brushing it across my lips.

"Maya!" I laughed, still trying to hide my nervousness. She laughed along with me. I tried to wipe the chocolate batter off of my mouth.

"You missed some," she said, pointing at my face.

I wiped it again.

"No," she stepped even closer. "Here." Her hand reached up towards the side of my face, and rested it there while moving her thumb across my lips to the corner of my mouth.

Our face were only inches apart again. _Crap, it's happening again. Just like at the dance. I can't let I happen. _I so desperately wanted to lean further in, but I wouldn't let myself. Losing her was something I didn't want.

I lowered my head so I couldn't stare at her eyes, or her lips for that matter. Upon lowering my head, Maya backed away. _That was close. _

Maya cleared her throat, "Okay, um. I guess we can put the pan in the oven now."

"Yeah."

After Maya and I placed the pan in the oven, we sat on the couch; pretending like nothing happened. When the cake was done baking, she removed it from the oven to cool. While we made the chocolate and raspberry sauce, our actions were different. Both of us tried our best to not get too close to one another.

_I just ruined my friendship with Maya._

* * *

"You and Maya spent after school together? Cooking? Is that code for something? Something... romance related?" Hanna winked at me.

"No, we were really baking a cake for her nutrition class. It was going great until I got too close to her. I think I probably scared her away. She's been acting strange ever since. What am I going to do?"

Hanna didn't respond. Instead, she looked past my shoulder with her mouth hanging open.

"What?"

Hanna shook her head, "Nothing. Nothing at all. Why don't we go somewhere else? We can have lunch in the library today!"

"No, what are you looking at?" I turned around to see Maya talking with Noel. They were unbelievably close, and it looked as though they were both really into the conversation they were having. "Oh..." I guess I sounded devastated, because Hanna immediately tried to turn the situation around.

"They're probably just talking. Nothing else! Maybe she's threatening him and trying not to make it noticeable. Or maybe there's something in his eye, and she's only helping."

"Then why are they exchanging phone numbers?"

Hanna looked back towards Maya and Noel. "Em, I'm sorry."

"Can we go eat in the library? I'd rather not be here right now."

"Sure."

I walked to the library with Hanna, trying to fight back any tears that formed in my eyes.

I really was devastated. _I knew Maya was into Noel. The way they looked at each other, it makes me sick. Not only do I have no chance with her, but now i've ruined our entire relationship. She won't want to talk to me anymore. I almost kissed her. Twice. _

Hanna and I spent the remainder of lunch sitting in the library. She tried her hardest to distract me from what I witnessed, but it wouldn't work. All that I could think of was Maya dating Noel.

The bell rang. "I'm sorry, I have to go." Hanna stood up and began walking towards the exit, but, before she left, she turned back around and said one more thing. "I think you should talk to her."

* * *

The rest of the day was awful. I didn't pay attention in any class, and I skipped swim practice. I just wanted to get home to sleep and forget that this day ever happened. _I knew I was only kidding myself thinking Maya would ever be into me. _

On the way home, I noticed Maya inside of The Brew grabbing a coffee. Hanna's words replayed in my ears. _I think you should talk to her._

Swallowing the lump in my throat, I walked inside. Maya turned around when I walked in. She smiled.

"Emily, hey. What's up?"

"Are you dating Noel?"

"He asked me out to dinner on Friday. Why? Is that a problem?" Maya's tone grew stingy.

"I just think that you need to be careful. He has a reputation. I don't want you to get hurt."

"I can take care of myself, thank you." Maya walked past me.

"Maya, wait. Look, Noel has a history of going through girls like they're tissues. He's not someone who's relationship material."

"Why should you care, Emily? Whenever I try to get close to you, you push me away. Then you do this, and I don't want this. I don't want to be cared about once i'm almost gone. I don't want you to care about me only when someone else does. As for Noel, so what if he has a bad reputation? At least he's honest about his feelings."

"Maya," I was cut off by a thumb in the shoulder when she shoved me out of the way.

I turned around and watched as Maya left.

* * *

**Hey everyone! I'm so very sorry for leaving you with that ending. Since there's an episode of Pretty Little Liars tonight you'll have to wait until tomorrow for another chapter. Sorry! D: **

**The end of this chapter was really hard to write. I felt so much pain for Maya when I wrote her line. The cooking scene was really fun though. I hope you enjoyed it. But, hey, at least Maya revealed her own true feelings for Emily, right? Haha, all right guys. Thank you so much for reading. Your reviews and comments mean the world to me. Happy reading. Later. (: **


	9. Chapter 9- Anticipation

**Hey everyone! I'm sorry about this late update. I spent all day playing this competition game. It was pretty intense and took up a lot of time. To make up for it, here's a chapter and following quickly behind there should be another one! It was actually quite hard to write this one, so I apologize if it's a bit boring. I can't just rush into things, you know? I think the wait will be worth it. Anyways, read on!**

* * *

"Why should you care, Emily? Whenever I try to get close to you, you push me away. Then you do this, and I don't want this. I don't want to be cared about once i'm almost gone. I don't want you to care about me only when someone else does. As for Noel, so what if he has a bad reputation? At least he's honest about his feelings."

"Maya," I was cut off by a thumb in the shoulder when she shoved me out of the way.

I turned around and watched as Maya left.

After Maya walked out on the conversation, I drove home with tears flowing down my cheeks the entire time. _So, Maya liked me the whole time? _I wanted to be happy about it, but I couldn't. I really did ruin my chances with her. _I'm such an idiot. _

I arrived back at my house and hurried upstairs trying to avoid talking with my mother. She would ask questions that I was not prepared to answer. Upon arriving to the room, I immediately went to the window seat. _Maya's curtains are closed... _I really did ruin everything. She didn't even want to see me. I began to cry again when my phone rang.

"_Hello?"_ My voice was weak, and I sniffled into the phone.

"_Em, are you alright? Why are you crying?" _It was Hanna.

"_Maya hates me."_

"_She can't hate you. You're friends."_

"_Not anymore. I tried talking to her, but she got angry and left." _The tears began flowing more rapidly.

"_Did you ask her about Noel?"_

"_Yeah, I tried to warn her about dating him, because of his reputation, and then she walked away from me."_

"_Hold on, I'm coming over." _

Hanna hung up the phone before I could reply. Within ten minutes she appeared at my bedroom door.

"Hey," She greeted me with a hug. "Are you okay?"

"Not really. I really screwed up."

"Did she really just walk away from you when you asked her about Noel?"

"Not exactly. She told me that she didn't want to be cared for only when she was almost gone, and that at least Noel is honest about his feelings."

"Wait, so she knew that you liked her, and she liked you back?"

"It appears so." I lowered my head, wallowing in my own stupidity.

"Em, that's good! She's not going to quit liking you overnight."

"It doesn't matter now. She's with Noel. They're probably on the phone right now, talking about how excited she is for their date on friday."

"It's not too late. You can still be with her."

"No, it is too late. I was too stupid and scared to tell her how I felt."

"Okay, shut up before I shut you up."

I was taken aback by Hanna's words. They startled me, I wasn't expecting her to say something like that at this time.

"What?"

"Maya _likes _you. The whole reason she's going out with Noel is probably to make you come to your senses and ask her out yourself. If _I _were into girls, I would much rather date you than a dirty, smelly guy."

_I guess she's right. I should try to talk to her again. _

Hanna stayed with me for another couple of hours before she left back home. Maya never opened her curtains back up, and I never quit thinking about her. I didn't get much sleep. I was terrified for the next day, and decided to talk to Maya before school.

* * *

I walked over to Maya's house before leaving for school. She was locking the front door behind her.

"Maya."

Startled, she turned around.

"Oh, hey."

"Can we talk?"

"I've got to get to school. I can't be late again."

"Please."

Maya sighed and took a place next to me while we walked towards her car.

"I'm sorry, for what I said about Noel. He's a nice guy, I guess, but I really don't want you to go on that date with him."

She raised an eyebrow, "And why's that?"

"He may be nice, but he's not necessarily good. Girls are like tissues to him, like I said before."

Maya's face showed a sign of being hurt.

"Is that all?"

"Yeah, I guess so."

"We'll talk later." She opened her car door and got in.

I tapped on the window to retrieve her attention again. "Wait, I still want to talk."

Maya rolled down the window and snapped at me. "Well, I don't. We can talk _after_ my date with Noel tomorrow night."

With that, Maya quickly pulled out of her driveway and away from me.

* * *

I sat in each class, watching the second hand of the clock make it's way around the circle. Every tick the clock made meant that my heart was another second closer to breaking. The thought of her dating Noel, it made me sick to my stomach. I wanted nothing more than for it to be over so I could talk to her once more.

When lunch rolled around, I was hesitant to even set foot in the cafeteria. I feared seeing Maya eat lunch with Noel. Every moment that she spent with him meant that they were getting closer, and Maya was getting further from me.

Hanna sat down at the table, breaking me off from my thoughts.

"Hey! How you holding up."

"Just dandy."

"Come on, it's going to be okay. So they're eating lunch together, it's not a real date!"

I turned around. _Great. _I was watching the one thing that I didn't want to see. She was eating lunch with Noel, and they were feeding each other their carrots.

Hanna realized she said the wrong thing. "So, did you have a chance to talk to her again?"

"Yeah, this morning. We didn't say much, but she told me she would talk to me again after their date tomorrow night."

"If you want, I can try to seduce Noel away from her. Since Sean broke up with me, i'm now in the market. Some attention wouldn't be so bad."

"I think that would make Maya even more angry at me. I'll just leave it alone. Hopefully we can get an actual conversation in after their date."

"Yeah, and who knows. Maybe he'll turn her off before it's even over."

"Let's hope he stomps on her feet multiple times."

"Oh, what if he gets sick during dinner and throws up all over her? That would be perfect. She'll be so grossed out that she'll never date another guy ever again."

Hanna and I laughed, it felt good to finally laugh. I've been in such a bad mood that I've hardly even cracked a smile.

I spent the rest of the day writing up a script in my head over what I was going to say to Maya when I next saw her after the date. It was way more difficult than I thought. It's hard to write a script when you have no idea what the other person would say. _One wrong word and she'll never talk to me again_, I thought.

I eventually fell asleep in the middle of my mental script. Nightmares of tomorrow flooded my dreams.

* * *

"Are you sure you can't go to school today?" My Mom asked me while placing her hand on my forehead.

"I just feel really sick. I think I ate something bad yesterday. We have a new lunch crew, and one of the meals are called _mystery meat casserole."_

"That doesn't sound too appetizing. They should really supply a better meal program. I should get Spencer's Mom on that, I'm telling you."

Spencer's Mom was one of the top lawyers in Rosewood.

"Okay honey, well I hope you feel better. Try and get some rest, I'll be home late tonight. There's money on the counter for dinner. Keep the doors locked, love you." She kissed my forehead and left the room. Soon after I heard the car start up and fade away down the street.

I had decided to stay home today. I wasn't exactly sick, but I felt that way.

Thinking about Maya, I stepped over to the window seat and watched her leave to school. _She's probably going to come back home before she goes on her date. I can probably get some extra sleep then. _I lied back down on my bed and drifted into another nightmare filled sleep.

Hours later, I was awoken to the sound of a car door being shut. Quickly, I ran back to the window seat to see Maya being guided by linked arms to Noel's truck. I must have slept all day, because it was already getting dark outside.

_Have fun. _I immediately grew sorrowful at the sight of them together. Maya had even dressed up for it, she was wearing a dress. _She told me that she hated dresses, and I can't talk to her until her date with Noel's over..._ Suddenly, I realized something. Without much thinking, I ran to the bathroom and turned on the shower, grabbing some nice clothes on the way.

_She said that after the date we can talk, so that's exactly what we're going to do._

* * *

**So, this chapter is a little shorter than usual, but I'm updating it with another one soon after. I'm writing it now actually. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I'm so sorry about how slow my story may seem. I just hate when things happen so quick. It makes it seem unreal in my opinion. (Seriously, guys. These are my opinions and some of you call me out on it saying that it's wrong for me to state my opinions so please bare with me. I'm human.) So, thank you so much for your reads, comments, reviews, follows, favorites. They mean so much to me. I broke the thousand view mark awhile ago and that's just awesome. Anyways, stay tuned for the next chapter coming soon! Later. (: **


	10. Chapter 10- The Date

_**Hey guys, I hope you're excited for this chapter, because I am. I won't keep you waiting. Enjoy!**_

* * *

___She said that after the date we can talk, so that's exactly what we're going to do._

* * *

I stood on Maya's porch, wearing a purple dress and heels. My hair was done. I tried to make myself look as good as possible.

Suddenly, a truck pulled up to the side of the street, and Noel stepped out. He moved himself over to the passengers side to open the door and let Maya out. They hadn't noticed me. He took her by the hand and walked her to the end of the driveway.

"I had a great time tonight." He grinned at her.

"So did I, it was fun." She smiled back.

"I was thinking, maybe we could do this again?" Noel took a step closer to her.

Maya stepped back, "Maybe." She continued to smile.

I watched as Noel leaned in further to Maya, attempting to get a kiss before he left.

"I'm actually not feeling too great. I don't want to get you sick." She said, denying the kiss.

"I don't care." He leaned in again.

"I do, but thank you for the wonderful time tonight. I'll see you later." Maya smiled, and Noel walked away to get back in his truck and leave.

I stood up when Maya began walking towards her front door.

"Emily? Is that you?"

"Yeah, hi."

"Why are you standing on my porch, and why are you all dressed up?"

I stepped closer to her. "You said we could talk after your date."

"And you took it very literally, I see. So, you wanted to talk now?"

"Actually, I was hoping that you could listen first."

Maya gave me a faint smile as she nodded.

"I have liked you for awhile now... I didn't realize it though, not for a long time. As soon as I figured it out, I tried my best to keep it hidden. The thought of weirding you out, and losing you was too hard to imagine. So, keeping a distance was what I thought was best for us. I guess I was wrong..."

"I'll say." She leaned against the wall.

"I wanted to say that I was sorry. Sorry for not realizing things sooner. Sorry for what I said about Noel. Sorry for making you feel unimportant. I said the wrong thing many times."

"Yeah, you had a chance to make it right yesterday, but instead you decided to bag on Noel again."

"I'm sorry. I've been scared."

"Okay, so you're sorry. What's the reason you're dressed this way?"

"To do what I've been too terrified to do since I met you."

"And what's that?"

I took in a deep breath. "To ask you out on a date."

"Wow." Maya smiled at me, and then lowered her head towards the ground.

"Yeah." I smiled back, nervously.

"Right now? I mean, I just got back from a date, and it's pretty late."

"Well, the dress was just something to give me a push into asking you out. I was thinking that we could just go back to my house, and watch a movie?"

"What about your Mom?"

"She's out. She won't be back until after midnight. So, what do you say?" Desperate for her answer, my heart began to race.

"Okay, but I don't completely forgive you for being dumb."

I laughed. Her agreement lifted every bad feeling that i've felt throughout the week. It was like I could finally start breathing again. Maya and I were talking, and, as of now, on a date.

We walked to the house, and grabbed a random movie from the shelf to watch. We weren't too interested in what was showing. The act of just being with each other is all that I wanted. Still feeling awkward and nervous about being with her, I sat on one side of the couch a couple of feet away from Maya.

"Uh-uh, we're not taking a step back." She scooted close enough to me to where our shoulders would touch at any slight movement, and interlocked her fingers within my own.

I looked down at the couch. It made me so happy to see us holding hands. It was such an innocent act that made everything feel amazin. Even though I didn't have to hide my feelings anymore, I was still nervous as hell. My heart was pounding like a drum, and I could feel it in my fingers. Surely Maya could feel it too, because every once in a while I could hear her softly giggle.

As the movie went on, I could feel my nerves dying down. Each minute with Maya helped me grow more comfortable with our position. Her hand in mine, and our shoulders slightly grazing against each other. I wasn't paying much attention to the movie though, the only thing on my mind was Maya, and how I finally got to be with her in the way I had wanted for so long. I felt her body shift next to mine. Her fingers let go of my own, and she moved her arm to the back of the couch.

"Maya, what's wrong?" Concerned, I turned towards her.

She hesitated. "You got to do something today that you've been wanting to do since we first met. I think it's my turn now."

"What do you mean?" I could feel my heart rate increasing, just like it had been earlier.

"I mean..." She stopped. Her eyes move down to my lips, and then back up to my eyes. Maya raised her other hand, and placed it on the side of my face. She leaned into me, and I felt her lips press softly against my own.

Once our lips were connected, I could feel the whole world stop. I was enjoying every little detail of this moment. The hand that was resting on the couch now made its way to the back of my neck. She was keeping me close to her. I moved my hands from my lap and placed them on the sides of her arms.

After the long, lingering kiss, she pulled me back in for a quicker one.

I let out a small giggle, and she did the same. We remained looking at each other for awhile, just smiling, and taking in the moment. It was such a small kiss, yet it felt like the greatest thing to ever happen in my life.

"So," I said.

"Good date?" Her eyes locked on mine.

I laughed, and nodded. "Good date."

"Good, because my date with Noel was awful."

"Why was it awful?"

"Because," Maya's voice grew softer, and she places her hands on the back of my neck. "It wasn't with you."

I could feel my heart soar, and my cheeks flush. This time, I was the one leaning in for a kiss. She hummed onto my lips, and the corners of her mouth raised.

We pulled back, and Maya raised her arm as in invitation to lean into her.

"So, was the date with Noel really just awful because it wasn't with me? Or was there another reason?"

"Well, we went and ate at The Grille, and the entire time we were there he talked about wrestling, and playing football with his friends. He even tried showing me his scars on his leg."

"Are you serious?"

"Dead." Maya's laugh caused her to run out of air. "Oh and get this. He was imitating some boxer, and as he was pretending to punch someone, he was stomping his legs on the ground and ended up totally giving my feet bruises. I didn't want to tell him though, he seemed so into it."

We laughed about it for awhile. "Oh my god, wow. It looks like I can predict the future."

"What?" Maya shot me a confused look.

"I was talking to Hanna about your date with Noel, and I told her that I was hoping he would stomp on your feet and turn you off from him."

"Oh, I see. So, your friends know about us?"

"Yeah, is that okay?"

"Yeah, it's great. I was hoping we wouldn't have to hide from everyone."

"I still can't tell my Mom though, Maya. Do you think we can keep it between us and a few people?"

"Sure, as long as we can be ourselves around your friends, then I'm okay."

"Thank you." I landed a kiss on Maya's cheek.

"Look at you. You come out to me and now you're Miss Bold."

"Bold? How am I bold?"

"Well, you've been way too nervous before at anything we did together. When we first met, when I slept over, when we danced, and when we made that cake together. You always looked like you were going to pass out. Now, you're super comfortable with me. I'm going to miss my nervous Emily." Maya smirked.

"Oh no, she's still here. Trust me. I'm a big bottle of nerves. I've just been dying to kiss you for a long time."

"You have? I know that it almost happened a couple of times, but I just thought those were spur of the moment things. Good to know you're always thinking about kissing me." Her smirk became devilish.

"Shut up," I said with a chuckle.

Maya got up and faced me on the couch. Her legs were folded underneath her, and her arms were placed on either side of me. She leaned into me, hovering her lips near my own. Her eyes locked with mine.

"Make me."

* * *

**There we go! They're together they're together they're together they're together! I really hope this chapter was okay with you guys. I tried to make it worthy enough to read. First kisses and confessions I think are really hard to write. And before you leave a comment/review on it... you should know that they are not about to have sex. That was just something to end the chapter with. Maya's very ballsy and bold, so I can imagine her actually saying it. Anyways, thank you so much for reading! As always, it means a lot. **

**Now that they're together I want to ask you guys to leave me reviews/go to my tumblr and send me an ask telling me what you think should happen from here on out. I probably won't do them all, but if I find something that I think I can work with, then I'll go for it. My tumblr link is on my profile. Again, thanks! Later. (:**


	11. Chapter 11- Caught

**Hey guys! I am so, so sorry for not updating these past couple of days. I've been busy, and by busy, I mean procrastinating. Truth is, I've been having a bit of writers block lately. (Do I even consider myself a writer?) To make up for my terrible absence, here's an extra long chapter. I do hope you enjoy it, considering my lack of ideas. Anyways, thank you so much for your patience!**

* * *

"So, you and Maya actually hooked up last night?"

"No, Spence. We didn't _hook up. _We just had a little movie date at my house, no big."

Hanna looked at me with beaming eyes, "Yeah, but you guys got together, and now you have a girlfriend!"

My heart began to race at Hanna's words. _Girlfriend. Maya's my girlfriend. _"I suppose that I do." A smile crept itself upon my face.

Aria spoke up, "Looks like two of us in this group are now in forbidden romances. Except, you don't have to hide. Unlike you, I can only meet up with Ezra at his apartment. We can't go anywhere, it sucks." Her head lowered, the strands of her hair draped forward covering her face.

"It's not like Maya and I can walk around and hold hands in the street. We still have to keep a low profile. The only time we can really be a couple is when we're alone together, or with you guys. I can't imagine what would happen if my parents found out."

"Don't worry about it, Em. I'm sure your parents wouldn't send you off to military school if they found out. I don't know about Aria's dad though..."

"Gee thanks, Hanna."

Hanna gave Aria an apologetic smile.

_They're probably right. My parents wouldn't send me to military school, but they would do anything to keep me away from Maya, and that's almost just as bad. _

"Anyways, you should invite Maya over here tomorrow. I'm sure adding another brain to the mix isn't going to hurt anyone."

"Yeah, Spencer's right. Besides, we'd all love to get to know the girl who makes your heart swoon," Hanna joked with a wink.

"I'm sure Maya would love that. Thanks."

"No problem, and don't worry about having to pretend, or hide around my family. They'll be out with Melissa and Ian. Ian's probably gonna suck up to my dad, trying to get him to forgive Ian for leaving Melissa when they first dated."

"Great, okay. Well, I should probably get going. I promised my Mom that I would go out to dinner with her tonight, and I'll call Maya on the way home. See you tomorrow."

"Bye."

"Later."

"See yah, Em."

I left Spencer's house and immediately dialed Maya's number. It rang twice before being picked up.

_Em? What's up?_

_Hey, Maya. Um, well I was wondering if you wanted to come to Spencer's tomorrow with Aria, Hanna, and I to study for the SAT's on Monday?_

_Are you sure they'd be okay with me coming over? I mean, we're not exactly friends. I hardly know them._

_It's fine. Spencer's the one who asked me to invite you. They really want to get to know you. _

_Hmm, okay. Sure, I'll go, but you might want to warn them in advance that I'm not too great with new people. Remember? I told you when we first met? I'm usually a loner, so I might be a little awkward and quiet for awhile. _

_It'll be fine, they're going to love you. I'll call you later tonight, okay?_

_Okay, bye._

Maya and I hung up the phone, and I continued on my way back home. As always, I thought of Maya, and how I was anticipating for dinner to be over quickly so I could go back home and call her.

* * *

I walked into my room, and not two seconds after, my phone rang.

_Hello?_

_Hey! Have a nice dinner?_

_Um, yeah it was good. How did you know I was back?_

_You look nice._

I realized that Maya must have been looking at me. With a blush on my face from her comment, I walked over to the window seat and sat down to the views of Maya smiling at me.

_Hi, _I said with a laugh.

_We already said our greetings, remember? _I could see her wink.

_Oops, forgot. Have you been sitting there all night?_

_You caught me. I've been waiting for you to come home all night. I haven't left this spot for two whole hours. My bladder is killing me, thank you for finally getting home so I can go to the restroom. _

_Ha ha, okay I get it._

Maya giggled into the phone, _I've been sitting here for about ten minutes. I do admit though that I've been waiting for you to get home. Just not in this same spot. _

_Why have you been waiting for me to get home? _

_So I could see you in that ridiculously hot outfit. _

My face began to heat up.

_And to talk to you, of course. _

I nervously chuckled, trying to hide my face with the hair falling down on the side. _There you go, being the creepy perverted neighbor next door. _

_Hey, it's not perverted. Perverted is sneaking into the locker room to watch you change. Which I could so easily do._

_You will not!_

_Okay, okay. I won't, as far as you know. _

_Maya! _I continued to heat up. Her semi-jokes were enough to make me extremely nervous.

_Kidding, kidding! Don't worry, I'm not going to sneak into the locker room to watch you change. Promise. _Maya raised her hand in oath up to the glass on her window.

_You'd better not, I know where you live. _

Maya let out a short giggle, _Okay, Emily. You need to get to sleep. I can see the bags under your eyes from here._

_All right, I'll pick you up tomorrow around noon? _

_Sounds good. _

_Goodnight, Maya. _

"_Goodnight, Em." _

We hung up the phone, and Maya sent out one last farewell by blowing a kiss through the window. I laughed, shook my head and waved her goodnight.

* * *

"Are you okay?"

"No, no, I'm fine. I'm good."

"You don't look good."

"Okay, I'm a little nervous."

"Maya's nervous? Man, never thought that would happen."

"Shut up, I'm not good with people, you know that."

"They're my friends. It's going to be perfectly fine, just be yourself."

"I'm not sure who that is."

"Well, I do, and I really like that person."

Maya smiled, and I leaned in to kiss her when the door opened.

"Oh! Sorry! Should we come back in a couple of minutes?"

I cleared my throat in embarrassment. "No, Spencer, it's okay."

"Okay, good. Hi, Maya." Spencer gave us a smile and welcomed us into the house."

Aria and Hanna were laying down stomach first on the couch with tubs of ice cream being emptied by their large spoons, and the TV on in front of them.

"I thought this was supposed to be a study day?"

"It is, but I can't get their lazy asses up for the life of me. They've been sitting there like that since they got here, and they're not even watching anything good. It's just been mind-rottening cartoons and infomercials."

"Hey, you know what's mind-rottening? All of this SAT crap. It's so confusing, and it makes my head hurt. The only way to cure it is low-fat ice cream, and cartoons." Hanna stood up and made her way towards us. "Hey, Maya! It's great to have you here." She pulled her in for a hug, and handed her a tub of ice cream with a clean spoon already on the inside.

"Hi," Maya smiled, and then leaned her body to the left to look at Aria. "Hi, Aria."

"Hey! You should come join us and watch some whatever-the-hell-this-is."

Maya nodded and reluctantly joined Aria by the TV.

"Spencer, Hanna, Maya's kind of nervous about this whole thing. So, if she starts getting uncomfortable can you just back off a little, or step in to make her feel included? Anything just to keep her here?"

"Yeah, sure, Em. No problem. She's nice, and we like her."

"So, are we going to start studying now? Or are we going to sit around for a few more hours doing nothing, and _then _start studying?"

Spencer shot a phony smile and said, "Isn't that usually what ends up happening?"

"Yep!" Hanna grabbed Spencer and I by the arm and pulled us over to the couch.

I sat to the left of Maya, with Hanna on her right to allow her the ability to be included in on the conversations.

"So, Maya. Emily's told us that you're in band? I couldn't imagine marching in a field in the hot sun in those uniforms." Spencer was into field hockey, so she was used to moving around a lot in the sun, but she was used to wearing thinner, and lighter clothing.

"Oh, believe me, I couldn't imagine it either. I'm in the jazz band, so I don't have to march."

My friends continued to make conversation with Maya in attempt to get to know her. A couple of hours passed since we had arrived, and began kept getting agitated with Hanna's ability to avoid the act of studying.

"Oh! The Notebook is on! I love this movie, let's watch it."

"Okay! No, we're done procrastinating!" Spencer snatched the remote control from Hanna, and threw it back in the drawer. "Now, let's get our SAT prep books out, and start studying before I bury you in books so you can learn through osmosis and then eventually die of suffocation."

All of our eyes widened at Spencer's strange threat.

"Well, Spencer has obviously been watching too many cartoons. I think that studying will help build her brain back up to a more sane level."

"Thank you, Aria. I will pretend I didn't hear your snarky comment, and grab the prep books."

She left the room for a little bit to grab the book, and Aria went to the kitchen to grab a bag of chips for us to snack on while we studied.

"Are you doing okay, Maya?"

"Yeah, I'm good. I like your friends, they aren't like the people in California. Although, Spencer does scare me a little."

"She scares everyone at first. I'm just really glad that you like them." I looked into Maya's eyes for a bit until my own wandered down to her lips.

"You know, you don't have to be scared to kiss me whenever you want."

My eyes shot back up, "I wasn't thinking that."

"Yeah, you were." Maya leaned in and took my top lip between her own before pulling away a few seconds later.

We heard a faint _aw _from the back of the kitchen, and laughed at the sound of it.

"Okay, so I got the prep books and I think that we should start with Chemistry."

Hanna groaned, "I don't understand the stupid AP Chem crap. How the hell am I supposed to know what a scientific mole is? The only mole that I'm concerned with is the one that's right smack in the middle of Stacey Derkin's forehead."

"Hanna."

"What? Come on, Spencer. It's so big, and who knows? It could be skin cancer. You know what, I should just call her and tell her to get it removed."

"Hanna, put the phone down, and put your face in the book."

"Fine, but someones going to have to show me how to convert these stupids moles into all of the different units of measurement."

"Oh, that's easy." Maya stood up and walked over to Hanna and turned the book towards her. "Okay, put your given here... yeah. Yeah, that's right. Put the ratio right here."

"What?"

"The ratio. Mole to grams? Just put a one right there, yeah. Now put how many grams it is on the top. Okay, good. Now just multiply the top numbers, and divide them by the bottom. It's really easy, the other ones are essentially the same with just a couple more steps."

"Wow, brains and beauty. I like you. We should invite you to all of our study sessions. Spencer never explains them the right way, I always end up either passed out by her over explaining, or silently crying into my textbook."

"Amateurs," Spencer muttered under her breathe.

* * *

SAT testing ended, the brains of more than half of the kids in the hallways were fried, and the others were looking confident in their answers.

Another swim practice was scheduled for right after school today. I was in the locker room putting my bag on the bench in front of the lockers and preparing to change when a locker slammed shut, flooding the room with the loud noise. I looked back at my locker, and Maya was standing there.

"What are you doing here? You promised me you wouldn't sneak in here to watch me."

"I'm not sneaking in, you know I'm here."

"Maya."

"Okay, okay. I'm just here to say bye to you before I leave, since you can't walk me to the car."

I was about to reply to Maya, when a familiar face came up beside me.

"What's she doing here?"

"Paige, it's fine."

"No, this locker room is for swimmers only. If coach see's her then we'll all be in big trouble."

"Don't worry about it, I was just leaving."

Paige looked at us, concerned. "Okay, fine. Just make sure that coach doesn't find out. I'll see you in the pool." She smiled, and walked away.

"All right, I guess I should go now and let you get your swim on."

I laughed, "See you after." I turned around to grab my swimsuit when Maya turned me back around.

"Forgetting something?" Her eyebrows raised, and she smirked.

"Here? I don't want anyone to see."

"Nobody's going to see. Do you hear anyone? Because, I don't."

Worried, I looked around the locker room. _Nobody's here. _

Maya stepped closer to me, and pressed her body against mine while pressing her lips onto my own. Before, our kisses were short, but this time we didn't pull back right away. We kept on going. Her hands were gripped on the sides of my shirt, and my hands were on the back of her head and neck. Her lips were taking in my bottom lip, and then my top, alternating each one for awhile until we realized that it was too much for school.

"So, I'll see you later?" Maya smiled while twirling pieces of my hair in her fingers.

My face flushed after what happened, "Yeah. Bye."

I so desperately wanted to continue.

* * *

"I can't believe that I almost called him Ezra in class. Thank god it only sounded like a stutter."

"Yeah, one of those annoying kids in the back would have loved to rat you out and expose everything."

Aria, Spencer, Hanna, and I were walking in the hallways to our next class after English with Mr. Fitz. On our way to class I noticed Maya leaning against a locker ahead of us.

"Hey, Maya!"

"Hey, Em. I had fun last night."

"Yeah, me too." I could feel my cheeks turn red.

"What was last night?" Here was Hanna liking to get involved again.

"Just watching a movie at Maya's."

"It was a little more than that." Maya's face grew a devilish grin.

I turned my attention towards her and gave her a look, my ears were getting hot.

"What? We had sundaes."

_Yeah, nice save. _

We all laughed for a little bit. Maya tried to change the subject, but Hanna knew that we were lying and continued to try and get us to tell her all about last night.

"I'm telling you, all we did was eat sundaes and watch a-" I was cut off by the intercom.

_Emily Fields, will you please report to the principals office. Emily Fields, please report to the principals office. Thank you. _

"Why do they want you there?" Aria looked confused.

"I have no idea. See you guys at lunch?"

"Yeah, bye."

I made my way to the principals office, having no clue what they could want with me. I opened the office door.

"You wanted to see me, sir?"

"Ah, Emily. Please, have a seat."

"Is something wrong?"

"Well, I don't know yet. You see, we got a note stating that you were behaving in homosexual behavior in the locker room yesterday after school."

Immediately upon hearing that, my heart began to race, and I started sweating.

"Who wrote it?"

"It was anonymous. You know our policy on PDA, we don't allow it here as it makes people uncomfortable. I can't legally punish you for homosexual conduct, what's your business is your business-" I cut him off.

"I wasn't behaving in any homosexual manners, someone must have made it up."

"Okay, well since I have no real proof I can't say that you're lying. So, I'm not going to do anything about this except to remind you of our policies. If we get any more notes like this then I'm going to have to take action and give you detention. I hope to not receive any more of these notes."

"You won't. I'm sorry for wasting you time." I pushed the chair back and stood up, making my way to the door.

"Oh, and Emily."

"Yes sir?"

"Just so you know, the topic of homosexuals is a very touchy subject. It could start an all-out war in the PTO. I really do hope to never see a note like this again. Understood?"

I nodded, and left.

* * *

During the rest of my classes before lunch, I was worried about who saw me with Maya. _Nobody was in the room. I looked around. Granted, our kiss was much longer than usual. It's possible that someone came in during the start and end of it. _

I entered the cafeteria, noticing my friends already sitting down at our table.

"You guys aren't going to believe this."

"What did the principal want with you?"

"Apparently he got a note saying that they saw me and Maya in the locker room together, kissing."

"What? Who?"

"I don't know, Han, it was anonymous."

"Well, what are they going to do?"

"Nothing, since they have no proof. I just have to be really careful now."

"Who do you think saw you?"

"I have no idea. Nobody was in the room when I checked."

Just then, Paige came up to the table to grab my attention.

"Emily, can I talk to you?"

"Yeah, I'll be right back guys."

Paige directed me towards the vending machines, where nobody was. She took in a deep breathe before speaking again.

"I... I am so sorry."

"What do you mean?"

"They note."

I mulled over what she said, and quickly became angry.

"You wrote the note? Paige, how the hell could you do that to me? I thought we were friends."

"We are! I really didn't mean for it to get out."

"What do you mean you didn't mean for it to get out? You wrote it, so obviously you wanted to get my in trouble. What, did you want my position on the team? Is that why you did this? To become captain?"

"No, no Emily, I didn't write it. My Dad did."

Confused, and angry, I asked, "Why would you tell your Dad about Maya and I?"

"I didn't mean to. I was sitting at the dinner table with him, and he was doing his usual pressuring-me-into-trying-too-hard-to-become-capta in routine, when I needed to tell him something to get him off my back. So, I told him that you were going to be too distracted by your girlfriend to maintain the position, and that eventually I would become captain, but I didn't know that he was going to drive up to school with me this morning and leave that note. I promise, I didn't mean for this to happen. I am so, so sorry."

"I can't believe this."

"How much trouble did you get in?"

"I didn't. The principal just reminded me of PDA policies, and told me that he'd better not receive another note."

"You won't. I promise that you won't."

"Yeah, _thanks._" Angrily, I moved past Paige, and back to my table.

"Hey, Em? What happened? It looked pretty heated over there."

"Paige let it slip out that I was gay, and her Dad wrote the note to the principal."

"You're kidding me?"

"Yeah, what a jerk."

Aria and Hanna continued to insult Paige and her father in an attempt to make me feel better.

"What are you going to do?"

"Nothing. It's not like I can go talk to him without exposing myself to lots of other people. I'll just tell Maya that we need to die it down a little in public areas."

"You know, Em. If you want, I could give Paige a little talk, and by talk I mean I can punch her in the face. You know, if you want."

"Thanks, Hanna, but no thanks. I don't want to cause any more trouble for myself. I can't let my Mom know about this. Anyways, I've got to go tell Maya. I'll see you guys later."

* * *

"So, who is Paige really?"

Maya and I were sitting up in her room after school. She laid on her back against a few pillows, and my head was resting on her shoulder near the crook of her neck. My arm was across her stomach.

"She's one of the swimmers on my team. She wants my position, but I think that it's more for her father than for herself. Her Dad's this really strict guy who has spent his whole time being a parent pressuring Paige to do things that he wants for her. I feel kind of bad for her."

"Are you guys friends?"

"Not really. We talk, but only during practice. I don't really like getting involved with her, because of her dad."

"So, she's no competition for me?"

Confused, I lifted my head up from her shoulder. "Competition? How could that be possible?"

"Well, I'm just saying. You've seen each other naked, and everything. I can't compete with that."

I began blushing, "She's not competition. She's also as straight as an arrow, but it's sweet of you to worry," I winked.

"I wasn't worrying. I was simply stating that while you're changing, she could come up behind you and defile you, and I wouldn't be able to stop it."

"Oh, so now you're jealous?"

"Jealous of what?"

I could feel my body heat up, I didn't want to say what I was thinking. I wanted her to just understand what I meant, but now I had to say it.

"Of her having the ability to do that. Because, you know, we spend most of our time together naked."

"Are you trying to make me jealous?"

"Maybe."

Maya's mouth hung open, and she jokingly shoved me. "Shut up."

Overcome with my bravery of saying the previous things, I leaned back into her and copied what had been said last friday.

"Make me."

Maya placed one hand on the back of my neck, and the other on my back and pulled me into her. Her mouth landing on mine, leaving small kiss after small kiss, eventually making them longer, and more heated. Maya took my bottom lip lightly between her teeth and grazed them against the skin before licking it over with her tongue. I placed my hand on the back of her head, and laced my fingers in her hair. Her tongue then slipped into my mouth, exploring the inside. Her hand had moved down a little to the small of my back, and the other remained on my neck, keeping me from pulling away. Our lips were fused together, and our tongues moved across each others, taking in every slight moan we left.

* * *

**There we go! Another chapter! Again, this one was longer than any of the others ones. So sorry for leaving you guys hanging for a few days. I hope this makes up for it. I had a pretty fun time writing it. My writers block is leaving slowly I can feel it. I already have ideas for more scenes and chapters. So, I hope to start writing these regularly again soon, and I still hope for you patience if I don't get them out right away. **

**I'll tell you what, if I take more than one day off from writing, then I will write you guys an extra long chapter like this one. Sound good? All right, again, your reviews are always appreciated. Thank you so much for sticking around. Later. (: **


	12. Chapter 12- Lies

**Hey guys! So, I took a day off. I wasn't feeling the ideas flowing through me like usual, but I'm here today with another chapter! I want you guys to know that this chapter is going to be set a couple of weeks into the future from last chapter. So, I hope you enjoy!**

* * *

"Go Emily!"

"Look at her cut though that water!"

"She's like a mermaid, so fast!"

"Graceful like one too."

I was at a swim meet. My three friends, and Maya, were all in the stands watching me, cheering me on. The water felt good against my skin. The whole world was forgotten once I dove in. It was just me, and the chlorine filled pool. I knew that I was faster than any other person in the pool, and that I was ahead of them all, but winning didn't matter when I was doing something that I loved. It did feel good to win though.

Under the water, I heard a loud cheer as my hand touched the edge of the pool. I pulled myself up from the ledge, and was suddenly picked up by my teammates. They hugged me, and congratulated me, and continued to cheer me on, even after we won.

"Nice going, Fields! You were on fire today!"

"Thanks, coach."

"Keep that going and you'll be getting full rides for any college you want."

When she walked away, I noticed that Paige began coming towards me."

"Hey, Emily. Nice job out there. You lead us to victory."

"Thanks, Paige."

"So, um... how are things?"

"You know, I don't really want to have a friendly conversation with you. I still haven't forgiven you for almost outing me and getting me in trouble."

"I wasn't trying to out you, or get you in trouble. It was my dad, remember?"

"It might as well been you. You're the reason why he did it."

"Emily, I'm so, so sorry. If there's anything that I can do to make it up to you, just let me know."

Paige awkwardly moved away from me, and Hanna spoke from behind.

"What did she want?"

"She was just trying to get me to forgive her. It's nothing."

"Well, you were awesome in that pool!"

Maya and the others all agreed. I let out a small chuckle.

"Thanks. So, do you guys want to go do something?"

Aria replied, "We would love to."

"Okay, cool. Let me just go shower, and I'll meet you guys outside of the locker room."

I made my way over to the locker room, and then to my locker. Paige was already there changing out of her swimsuit, getting ready to take a shower. Our lockers have been next to each others since we both joined the swim team. As I removed my suit and wrapped a towel around me, I noticed her watching.

"Something you want, Paige?"

"N-nothing. Sorry." Paige lowered her head.

I watched her as I went to the showers, her face hidden by the locker door.

I walked inside the shower room. Paige had gone inside too, and then left while I was still washing my hair. _What's her hurry?_

* * *

"I love this frozen yogurt. I mean, who knew that low-fat could taste so good?" Hanna's eyes beamed at the cup of frozen yogurt she held in her hand."

I got blueberry, and Maya got strawberry. We couldn't decide which flavor we wanted, so we each got a different one and decided to share. She lifted her spoon of the strawberry kind to my mouth, and smiled. I took it on my tongue and smiled back. While Maya was feeding me, my phone buzzed.

**From Paige: Hey, I'm sorry, again. I wanted to know if you could meet me somewhere tomorrow night?**

I was feeling great up until that text. Wanting to have an excuse not to go, I asked Maya what she was doing tomorrow.

"Maya, what are you doing tomorrow night?"

"Um, I'm actually going out with Noel."

My heart sank. "I thought you two were over?"

"Don't get jealous, Em. We aren't together. I told him that we weren't going to work out, but he still wanted to be friends. So tomorrow night we're going to this arcade that he used to go to when he was younger." Maya shrugged.

"Oh, okay. What about you guys?"

"I'm going out with my Mom and Dad. They're trying to get along. Since my Dad left for Isabel, they've been really distant."

"Yeah, Mike and I are making dinner for our parents."

"Sorry, Em. I need to go furniture shopping with Melissa."

_Damn. _I thumbed a reply back to Paige.

**From Emily: I have nothing else to do. Where?**

**From Paige: It's a remote cafe/diner about 30 minutes from town. I'll give you the address during lunch tomorrow. **

I didn't reply back, there was no need to. I decided to enjoy the rest of this Thursday evening with my girlfriend and friends.

* * *

"What the heck is mystery meat anyways?" Aria lifted a fork of the gray colored meat in front of her.

"It could just be kind of like hotdog meat. You know, where they blend all of the intestines together." Spencer replied without any signs of discomfort from her words.

"Okay, then why is it gray?"

Before any of us could comment back, Paige came up to the table.

"Hey, Em. Um, here's the address for tonight."

"Thanks. I'll be there."

"Um, could I talk to you over-" Paige's eyes scanned my friend's expressions. They looked at her with great disgust. "You know what, never mind. I'll see you tonight. Bye, guys."

We watched as paige walked back over to her table.

"Okay, what they hell was that? Are you meeting her tonight?" Hanna butted in.

"Yeah, I am."

"Why? She almost outed you. If I were you, I would kill her sorry ass."

"Yeah, well I had nothing else to do tonight. You guys are all busy."

"Em, why didn't you say something? One of us would have canceled."

"It's fine. I'm sure she just wants to try and make it up to me."

"Okay, be careful though. I don't completely trust her. If she does anything to you again then I will most definitely punch her in the face."

I smiled, "Thanks. I'll see you guys later."

* * *

_Why is it so dark over here? I can't see a thing. If I didn't know any better then I would think Paige was trying to seclude me in an abandoned side of town to kill me. Oh wait, there's a light. _

I pulled up to the parking lot of a small cafe in the middle of nowhere. It was dark, and there were only a few other cars. I walked inside. It looked pretty old, like it had been built in the 70s.

"Over here, Emily." Paige was sitting in the back in a red booth with a white stripe going down the back.

"Why are we all the way out here, Paige?" I sat down across from her.

"I wanted to talk to you in private."

"But why out here? We could have gone to The Grille, or to The Brew."

"I wanted to talk to you about things that I don't want people we know to hear."

"Like what?"

"My father, my life, you."

"Why me?"

"Can you just listen? Please?"

"Yeah, sure."

"My father is so strict. He pressures me too much. He makes me feel worthless if I do anything wrong. If I'm not on top, then he shames me until I am."

"You've told me this before."

"I know. I also told you that I mentioned you and Maya to him so he would get off my back about becoming captain. But, that wasn't completely true."

"So you lied?"

"It some ways. It is true, what I said and why I said it, but not the complete truth. I did it in spite of you."

"Why? What did I ever do to you?" I became angry.

"Nothing. Well, not nothing. You did something to me without knowing that you did something to me."

I looked at Paige, confused. Everything that she was saying was confusing to me.

"You made me jealous."

"Of my captain position, yeah."

"No, of you and Maya."

"What? Are you gay?"

Paige looked around uncomfortably at the term. She leaned in closer, "No, I'm not gay. I don't know, maybe I am. I've had these feelings for other girls for awhile now. I don't like it though. If my father found out, he'd kill me."

"So why are you jealous?"

"When I saw you and Maya together in the locker room, I got jealous because of how comfortable you are with yourself. You were fine with being with Maya. You don't need to hide from your true feelings, or you friends. I can't do that."

"So you're jealous of my ability to be who I am? Paige, nobody knows but my friends, and you. I am hiding."

"Yeah, but you're not denying who you are. I've denied my feelings until I saw you two together. Then, I got angry with myself, and with you, and I said that to my father. I am so sorry. I realize that it was the wrong thing to do, and I could have hurt you."

"Yeah, you could have." I was still angry. I knew that Paige was really sorry, and that she would do anything for me to forgive her. _Maybe I should just forgive her. She was confused, and angry. Nothing has happened since the principal called me in. So I have no reason to be angry anymore. _

"I am so, so sorry, Emily. So sorry." Paige continued to repeat her apologies, and began to cry. She lowered her face into her hands that were resting on the table.

Finally feeling the anger lift away, I got up and sat next to her, resting my hand on her back and gently rubbing it up and down.

"It's all right, okay? Nothing happened to me, so it's okay. I forgive you."

Paige lifted her head up, her eyes filled with tears. Her voice was weak, "I don't forgive myself though. I did something terrible to you. I almost outed you, and ruined your life. I know that I would have been so hurt, and so angry if someone did that to me, but I did it to you. I always thought of you as a friend, and I did that to you. I betrayed you. I don't know why you would forgive me."

I fixed my position. My hands turned Paige's body towards my own.

"You know, when I was younger, I had a friend. We spent every day together. My Dad was home from the service, and my Mom bought him this new watch as a welcome home present. He loved it, and wore it whenever he went out. One day me and my friend were pretending to be grown up. I took his watch from the drawer and put it on. It was way too big for me, so it often slipped off my hand. Well, I was walking across the drain in the street towards her, and the watch slipped off and fell through the holes. I was freaking out, and so scared that he would find out. So, her and I lied to my parents about what happened. We told them that we didn't do anything with it. They believed us... until she couldn't take the lies and told them everything. I was so mad, and hurt that she would betray me and give me up like that. I didn't talk to her for a long time. Eventually, she moved. I never spoke to her again. My parents forgave me, and they never stopped loving me, but I never forgave my friend. I regret that. It was a lie that _I_ told, and I blamed her for getting me in trouble, when really it was my own fault. So... I guess what I'm trying to say is... these things pass. Fights, and lies we get into are going to seem silly when we're older. We'll regret them. That's why I forgive you."

Paige laughed. "Thank you, but I can't tell my parents about me."

"Neither can I. We're not lying, we're not denying anything. We're just not telling the truth."

"So, we're still friends."

I was hesitant to reply, but I did. "Yes, we're still friends."

Paige smiled, her eyes scanned my expression and she let out a nervous laugh. She then leaned in closer, her mouth closed in on mine. Her eyes closed, and her lips landed on my own.

When I realized what was going on, I stood up and pushed Paige off of me.

"Emily, I didn't- I'm sorry. I-" her words stuttered.

"I gotta go." Confused, I ran out of the cafe, leaving Paige behind.

* * *

**Okay, so this chapter wasn't great, I know. I was struggling with it. I hope it's okay, it's probably very confusing to you guys. I just couldn't get the words out on my computer. Very, very sorry. Hopefully it isn't too awful. Thanks again for your reviews, comments, reads, everything. Your support means the world to me. I promise the next chapter will be much better.**

**Before you guys say anything, I promise you that this _is _an Emaya. Not Paily. So don't worry about Emily and Paige. Paige isn't going to ruin the Emaya relationship. **

**Anyways, later. (: **


	13. Chapter 13- Ache

**Okay, so I'm noticing that a lot of you are getting kind of angry that Paige is in my story. Well, it's my story and I have a reason for why she's in here. It isn't just to mess with the Emaya couple. It's going along with the story line. So, I wrote this short chapter after the previous one to make some of you feel better about it. This chapter has something that I'm sure a lot of you want. I hope you enjoy it.**

* * *

"She did what?"

Hanna and I were sitting up in my room. It was only last night that I went out with Paige to talk. Except, she didn't only talk.

"Yeah, she kissed me."

"What did Maya say?"

"I haven't told her yet."

"Why not?"

"I don't want this to cause any problems between us."

"Em, it's going to cause problems if you hide it from her. If you come clean and tell her, then she won't be as angry, and she'll realize that it wasn't your intention."

"Yeah, but I don't want to hurt her. I really, really like her."

"And she really likes you, so tell her. Here," Hanna picked up my phone, and dialed Maya's number. "Tell her to come over. I'll go home when she gets here."

I wasn't prepared to talk to Maya. So, when she answered, I didn't know what to say.

"Hello?"

"H-hey, Maya."

"Hey." I could hear the smile creep up on her face. "What's up?"

"Um, I was wondering if... if you wanted to come over?"

"Yeah, I'd love to. Is everything okay?"

I paused for a moment before speaking again."Yeah, I think so. When will you be over?"

"In about two seconds."

Sure enough after two seconds, the doorbell rang.

"No kidding, bye." I hung up the phone and faced Hanna.

"Okay, so when Maya gets inside I want you to flat out tell her what happened. Hopefully she won't be hurt. Will you be all right?"

"Yeah, I'm good. Thanks."

Hanna and I stepped down the stairs and over to the front door to welcome Maya inside.

"Hey, Maya! It's good to see you again."

"Hi, Hanna."

"Anyways, I was just leaving. So, I'll leave you two alone."

She walked passed Maya, and gave me a thumbs up on her way out.

"Are you sure that you're okay? You sounded a little... off on the phone."

"I hope so."

"What happened?"

"Come upstairs." Grabbing Maya by the hand, I walked back up the stairs and into the room. We sat on the window seat together.

"Should I be scared of what you're about to tell me? Because, if you want to break up then I would just love for you to cut to the chase so I could go home and stuff my face in ice cream."

"No, I don't want to break up. I really, really don't."

"Okay, so what's the problem?"

I lowered my head, and cleared my throat. "Well, you remember when we went to the frozen yogurt place after my meet?"

"Yes, I remember."

"I asked you if you were busy last night. You were going out with Noel. I asked that because Paige wanted to meet up at this cafe, and I wanted an excuse not to go. All of our friends were busy too. So, I went."

"Okay? What, did you cheat on me?" Maya joked, her laugh trying to fill the awkwardness.

I didn't reply.

"Oh my god." She stood up and backed away from me with a shocked look on her face.

"No, no Maya I didn't cheat on you. I promise I would never cheat on you."

"Then what? If you didn't cheat on me, then what?"

I could see tears forming in Maya's eyes. I felt sick, and all that I wanted to do was pull her close to me.

"Paige and I were talking about her parents, and what happened with the principal. She started to cry, I forgave her. Then..."

"Then?"

"We kissed."

Maya was nodding nonstop, and wiping the tears from her eyes. "So, you did cheat."

"No, I didn't. I didn't mean for it to happen."

"But, it did. You didn't stop her before it happened?"

"Yeah, I didn't stop her before it happened, but once I realized what we were doing I pushed her away."

Even though Maya looked heartbroken, I couldn't help but notice that she was still so beautiful when she cried.

"I'm sorry, I think I just need to be alone right now." Maya, trying to mask her sorrow, laughed. "I think I'll go get that ice cream now."

"Wait, Maya, I don't want you to hate me."

"I don't hate you. I couldn't. I understand that you didn't mean for it to happen. She initiated it, and you pushed her away. I get it. It still hurts though. So, I'll talk to you later." She began walking out the door.

"Maya." I grabbed her arm and turned her around to look at me. "_Will_ you talk to me later?"

She didn't speak again. Her head nodded, and she walked out.

I heard the front door slam.

_Crap, I handled that well. _

I began to tear up as well while fumbling around for my phone to dial Hanna.

"Hey! How did it go!"

"Well, she doesn't want to talk to me right now. She left my house, crying."

"Dammit, I'm sorry. I didn't think she'd get that mad."

"No, she wasn't mad. Just hurt."

"She's probably mad at Paige. I know I am."

"I want to call her back over here, but I know that I should just give her time."

"It'll be okay, I promise. You guys are great together."

"Yeah, anyways, I'll talk to you tomorrow."

"All right, bye."

"Bye."

I walked back over to the window seat to look into Maya's room. She was laying on her bed, expressionless. _She didn't even bother to close her curtains... I really messed up. _I picked my phone back up to text her, but then almost immediately set it back down. _Dammit._

* * *

All through sunday Maya wouldn't talk to me. I texted her a few times.

**From Emily: I would really like to talk to you again. I know it's only been since last night. **

**From Emily: I'm really sorry. **

**From Emily: Okay, I'll continue to give you space. I miss you though. **

Her car was in the driveway all day, so she didn't go anywhere. I felt awful for what I did with Paige.

* * *

"Great job at practice today, Emily!"

"Thanks, coach."

I was in the locker room after school, gathering my things to go home. Hanna stayed behind with me at practice, and was now in the locker room with me.

"You must be the MVP here, huh?"

"I wouldn't say that."

Just then, Paige came from around the corner. She stopped when she saw me. Her mouth hung open, and she took a step back. "Oh, hi."

"Hey."

"I'm really sorry that happened. I really didn't mean for it. It was just the moment, and-"

Hannah stepped in and cut her off with a smack to the face.

"Let's go, Em." Hanna guided me to the door with her hand on my shoulder. I turned my head back to Paige, the side of her face was covered by her hand.

"Why did you slap her?"

"Why wouldn't I? She's messed with one of the cutest couples I know. Stand up for yourself, Em. Grow some balls."

I chuckled at Hanna's comment.

"Come on, tell me you wouldn't love to have done that yourself."

"Okay, I thought about it. Thanks."

"Anytime. I'm glad that I finally got to do it."

With linked arms, and smiles on our faces, we walked out of the school.

* * *

**Okay! I hope you guys enjoyed that last part. I'll tel you now that this isn't the last time you're seeing Paige. I still need her for the storyline, but she won't be in forever. I promise. This isn't the end for Emaya either. I'm a fan of happy endings. Okay guys, thanks so much for your support. Love you all. Later. (:**


	14. Chapter 14- 72 Hours in Heaven

**Hey guys! Okay, so it's currently 2:30 AM as I'm writing this. I expect to be up until around 7 AM. So, I'm not rushing to write this since it's already a new day. I apologize for not getting it out earlier. I was doing something, but I don't even remember what I was doing. Oh! I hope you guys enjoyed watching the new PLL. It was pretty freaking crazy. The whole thing with Hanna's Mom, Emily's family, Melissa too. I was dying to watch more. But, alas, it ended. Time to wait another whole week. But, I can assure you this story won't take a week to update. I'm still enjoying writing it, and I'm glad that you guys are enjoying reading it! Anyways, here's my update!**

* * *

"Don't worry, Em. You don't have to keep apologizing. I just needed a few days to get over the fact that someone else got to do this." Maya cupped my cheeks with her hands and planted a soft, slow kiss on my lips.

I let out a small giggle, "Okay, I just want to make it up to you."

"You can make it up to me by shutting up, and by helping me do these dishes."

"Deal."

Maya and I were at her house. Her parents went out to dinner and left Maya at home with a list of chores. Vacuum, wash dishes, do laundry, multiple things. I watched her vacuum, enjoying the times when she got aggravated when the cord wrapped itself around different pieces of furniture. I also enjoyed watching her change her shirt from behind when she accidentally spilled laundry detergent on herself; even if I did get caught afterwards.

"My parents should be home soon. Maybe half an hour. So when we're done with these dishes we've got about twenty minutes all to ourselves. What do you want to do then?"

I knew what I wanted to do with her. I wanted to kiss her, and I wanted to feel her against me, but I couldn't say that out loud. My thoughts forced a smile on my face. I didn't realize it, but Maya did.

"Why are you smiling?"

"I'm not smiling." Of course, denying it only caused it to lengthen.

"And I'm from the planet Mars. Is there a reason you won't tell me?"

"No, I just remembered something that Hanna said to me earlier."

"Uh-huh..." Maya was drying her hands off. She turned towards my front, and grabbed me by the waist, pulling me into her. "Are you lying to me?"

My face began to redden. I continued to smile while avoiding her gaze.

"Thought so." Her hands moved up from my waist to the neck line of my shirt and clenched it in her fist. She pulled me in so our lips could meet for another kiss. "Come on, let's finish these dishes so we can do whatever perverted little thoughts are in your head."

"They weren't perverted thoughts, Maya." I said with my smile still on my face, and my cheeks still red.

"Whatever you say," she gave me a wink while washing the cup in her hand.

* * *

"Oh give me a break. I studied my ass off for that english test and I still got a C."

"Well, Hanna, at least you passed. It's better than a lot of your grades."

"Aria, do you think you can ask your boyfriend to raise my grade?"

Aria looked around and shushed Hanna. "You know I can't do that. It will look suspicious, and he doesn't know that you guys know, remember?"

"I was only kidding, but I am going to talk to him about it myself. Em, how are you and Maya?"

"We're good, she's not upset anymore."

"So did you guys _kiss _and make up?"

"Yes, we did," I chuckled.

_Attention, students! Attention, students! On Halloween weekend, there will be a student camping trip with fun activities and games. There will be a big Halloween party on Sunday night there as well. Monday is a faculty day, therefore there will be no school. Some members of the PTO will be going to chaperone. More information is at the front of the school. Thank you. _

"Think we should go?" Spencer asked us all, curiously.

"I think it might be fun."

"Seriously, Aria? Fun? How could rolling around in dirt be fun?"

"Han, camping isn't all dirt and mud. It can be fun. Em?"

"Let's get more information on it first."

"Okay, I'll go to the front. Be right back."

As Spencer opened the door to go inside, Paige opened the door next to her to come outside. She immediately stopped in her tracks at the sight of us. She took a step back before lowering her head and continuing to her destination.

"What's up with Paige?"

"Hanna slapped her."

"Hanna!"

"What? She deserved it. Almost breaking them up."

"Well, she looks a little uncomfortable being here."

Spencer walked back into the conversation. "All right, I've got some flyers for the camping trip. It says here that some kids from Sheridan Prep will be going."

"Interesting," Aria said while we all reached for a flyer. "Oh, it also says that we must bring our own tents."

"Three people to a tent only. Wait, but there are four of us?"

"Why only three to a tent?"

"It says here that it's for space purposes. More than three means a big tent."

"What are we going to do?"

"I can invite Maya. Her and I can share a tent while you three share one."

Hanna slid over and nudged me with her elbow. "By the look on your face I would think that you'd rather share a tent with Maya than with us. I feel betrayed."

"Yeah, I do kind of like the idea."

"Okay," Spencer stood up from the table. "We're all going then. I'll talk to you guys after class, bye."

* * *

There were still two more school weeks until the weekend camping trip, and I still needed to ask Maya to come with us.

"Hey, Maya!"

"Hey, Em. What brings you to my front door?"

"I was just wondering if you had a tent that isn't the size of a basket ball court."

"Unlike the one you own?"

"Yeah."

"Um, well no I don't."

"Oh, okay that's fine. I can go buy one."

"Wait, why do you need a tent?"

"The school camping trip, and you're coming with me."

"Do I get a say in this?"

"No, you don't," I joked.

"Hmm... well my parents asked me to hand out candy with them, but I'm sure I can miss out on that. Do you want me to go buy the tent with you?"

Exceedingly happy that she was coming with me, I thought to myself, _Yes! _

"No, that's fine. You let me worry about the tent. Go convince your parents to let you go, and here's a flyer." I handed her the piece of paper that explained all of the details for the trip.

"Only three to a tent, eh? Are your friends not going?"

"No, they are, but they'll be in a tent together. So we'll be sharing one. I hope you don't mind."

Maya leaned her against the side of her door frame. "I don't know... you might try to take advantage of me. You know, being in the woods with no electricity or phone connection. I'd have no way of escaping."

I laughed, "I'll be sure to control myself."

Her smile ended the seriousness that she was trying to convey. "Did you want to come in?"

"Oh, no. I promised my Mom that I'd go to the store for her after practice. I'll call you later?"

"I'll be waiting."

"Okay, bye."

Maya waved. I walked away with her beautiful smile engraved in my mind.

* * *

"Checklist?"

"Sunscreen, athletic shoes, mosquito spray, deodorant."

"Yep."

"Extra pairs of clothing?"

"Good."

"Tent and blankets?"

"Here."

"Hygiene?"

"It's all in this bag."

"And you've got some money?"

"Yeah, in the wallet."

"Okay, it looks like you're all set. There are some snacks for the bus ride in there too."

"Thanks."

"I hope you have a great time. It sounds like a lot of fun. Call me on your way home Monday."

"I will. I've gotta go now. Maya's waiting for me."

"Okay, Emily. Love you."

"Love you too, Mom."

Today was the Friday that the camping trip starts. The buses were scheduled to leave at 6 PM, and the ride was said to take around an hour. I walked outside to Maya leaning against my car with a duffle bag next to her.

"Hey there, tent-mate."

"Hi, Maya. Ready to go?"

"Absolutely. Are you excited?" Maya said as I opened the door for her.

I waited until I got into the other side to answer. "Yeah, I'm not too sure what to expect though."

"All I know is that I'm excited to share a tent with you for three nights."

Her words caused my face to flush.

"Me too."

Upon arriving to the school, we saw a couple of buses lined up with around 50 kids from our school crowding the outside. Hanna, Spencer, and Aria were standing against the wall with their bags. Hanna's bag, however, was more of a suitcase.

"Hey, guys!"

"Hey, Em, Maya."

Maya replied, "Hi."

"Looking forward to it?"

"I'm looking forward to staying in my tent the whole time, yes."

"Come on, Hanna. It's going to be fun. You'll enjoy it. You've just got to get out there and participate."

"You sound like my mother."

_Listen up! I'm going to call role! Please raise your hand when I call your name. If I don't call your name then you didn't get a permission slip signed, and we'll need to contact your parents for their consent. Okay..._

My swimming coach was chaperoning one of the buses. She called out name after name into a megaphone until all were said.

_Looks like everyones here. Now, you're all going to get into a bus. There's plenty of room. I want you to fill up the first bus before filling the second. The second bus will contain all baggage in the extra back seats. On your way to the door you'll find a name tag. Find yours and put it on your bag so we can identify it. Any questions come and see me. _

"We're not leaving my bag, guys. We're not."

"It's fine, Hanna. We'll just get on the second bus with them."

Around 35 kids entered the first bus, and we entered the second so Hanna could keep close to her belongings. Maya and I sat closest to the back together. Hanna was in the seat to the left of us, and Aria and Spencer sat in the seat in front of us.

"How long is this ride?" Maya asked.

"They told me around an hour."

"Oh? So I can get comfortable?"

"Yeah. You've got a lot of time."

"Perfect. Then I will." Maya turned her back towards me, and then fell backwards onto my lap. Her eyes were closed for a moment as she situated herself. Her feet lifted from the ground and rested on the empty edge of Hanna's seat. She then opened her eyes, and smiled.

"Comfortable?" _I know I am. _

"Very," Maya said as she reached for my left hand and held it on her stomach. I could feel her body rising with every breath she took, and how it would tense up whenever she smiled, or laughed.

Even though the bus was filled with other people, it was as if Maya and I were alone. Hanna was curled up in a ball with her blanket taking a nap. Spencer was listening to a lecture on her phone, and Aria was playing music on her Ipod. I could every once in awhile hear the song through her headphones. The other kids in the front were all basically doing the same. Sleeping, listening to music, or talking to one another. They were all so wrapped up in their own things that they didn't pay attention to anything else.

Maya's position on top of me gave us entertainment. We replayed random scenes from different movies. Badly, I might add. There were lots of laughs, and different lines thrown in.

"Maybe a kiss will cause this sleeping beauty to wake!" I leaned in and kissed Maya on the lips. She didn't move. "I said, maybe a kiss will cause this sleeping beauty to wake!" She still didn't move. "Maybe a slap in the face will cause this sleeping beauty to wake."

"Maybe a more intense kiss will cause this sleeping beauty to wake." Maya opened one eye and smirked.

"Maybe your smart ass attitude will cause you to wake."

"Maybe I'll sleep in a different tent."

My mouth hung open as I gasped. "I will tie you to the stakes."

"Emily, I'm shocked! I didn't know you were into that stuff."

I could feel the temperature rising. I covered Maya's face with my hand. "Go back to sleep, beauty."

Maya and I laughed until we felt the bus come to a halt. Coach Fulton stood up.

"We're here, everyone! Welcome to your home for the next 3 days!"

* * *

**Well, there you go! This chapter took me a few hours to get done. I enjoyed writing it, but I was too distracted by lots of other things. I hope you all enjoyed it. Next chapter they'll start their first night at camp. I'm looking forward to it. :D Anyways, your reviews, comments, follows, favorites and reads mean so much to me. Thank you all for your support! Later. (: **


	15. Chapter 15- Connection

**Hey, guys! So, so sorry for not updating the past couple of days. I'm not letting this fic go, I'm still really enjoying writing it. I just get lazy sometimes, so don't worry about me just leaving you all hanging without some sort of closure, or something like that. Anyways, as I promised for not updating quick enough, here's a longer chapter. **

**Oh, and someone mentioned that Hanna was used to camp, so she shouldn't be complaining about going. I do remember that she's been to fat camp for a few summers, but this fic is not going to be completely accurate. Even though she's been to camp, it doesn't mean that she's going to want to go now that she's done being overweight. I think of her as being done with that stage in her life. Also, she is pretty into how she looks and her surroundings. Okay, I'll stop boring you all, I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

* * *

Maya and I laughed until we felt the bus come to a halt. Coach Fulton stood up.

"We're here, everyone! Welcome to your home for the next 3 days!"

Hanna, along with the other people who were asleep on the bus, woke up at the sound of the bus doors opening.

"Now, we're all going to get off the bus, and then we'll all gather around to listen for a few announcements about what's going to happen tonight. I'll take the bags and we'll pass them out in a bit."

Hanna, Aria, Spencer, Maya, and I removed ourselves from the seats and made our way off the bus. Outside, there was a large cabin with towels hung over the railing on the patio. The word "SHOWER" was carved in big letters on the front. To the far right of it was a wooden stage with a small speaker situated near the edge, and back in the woods you could see a small shed that I assumed was an office. Far off to the side was an even larger area that was block off by a few trees. They separated the area with the buildings from the area for tents. There was a pit of wooden logs and rocks in the middle for a fire.

"All right," A woman wearing khaki shorts, and a tank top jumped onto the stage holding a microphone that was connected to the speakers. " Welcome everyone! I hope you're all excited to be here. It's going to be a ton of fun, and you're going to be sad when the weekend is over." The woman looked around at the crowd of us staring at her, waiting for instructions. "Well, I know it's past 7, and getting dark. So, I want you all to go off and set up your tents before it gets too dark to see. Your belongings are in a pile behind you. After everyones done, we're going to meet back around the stage to discuss our first activity here at camp. Oh, i'm Marie, I'll be your camp counselor for the weekend. Come to me if you have any questions, or concerns. No, go!"

At the direction, everyone grabbed their bags and went off looking for a place to set their tent. It was a fairly large area with many vacant spots for tents. Noel and his friends came here too, and set their tents on top of one of the few hills.

"Okay, where are we going to set up shop?" Aria spun herself around, looking in every direction for the perfect place.

"As long as we're all together, and not too close to the woods so bears can't attack us, then i'm good."

Spencer dropped her bag, "I don't think there are any bears here, Hanna. How about we just set up over here? It's far enough away from the fire that we still get light without getting too hot, there aren't too many people over here, and we're not by the woods so it's not as creepy."

"Sounds good. Emily, you and Maya can set up your tent right there, while Hanna, Spencer, and I will set up ours here."

"Okay, come on, Maya." I grabbed Maya by the hands and brought us to the area next to where their tent was going to be. I opened up my bag and pulled out a sack that was filled with the tent supplies.

Maya took the tent from my hands, "This looks kind of small. We might have to sleep pretty close together." Her head tilted, and she smirked at me with these eyes that said she knew the exact reason why I bought this tent.

"It looked bigger on the box," I lied. I knew that I bought it so we'd have to sleep close together, and she knew it too.

Maya and I each took the tent with both hands and spread it out on the ground. A small bag of stakes fell from the folds.

"Do you know how to put together a tent, Em?" Maya said while holding up the instructions to her eyes.

"My Dad and I used to go camping a lot. He would do most of the work, but I have a fair amount of knowledge in setting up tents. Hand me those rods," I pointed at a bag full of silver rods that were used for support.

"What's first then?"

I explained the process for setting it up. It took us about 15 minutes of trial and error. The rods wouldn't place themselves in each other the right way, and the stakes wouldn't stay put in the dirt. After many, many tries, we got the tent set up right. It was about the size of a queen sized bed. It was big enough for the two of us, but it wasn't big enough for each of us to have our own area to sleep in.

"We did good. It's cute, like a fort."

Maya stepped into my line of sight. "I used to make forts when I was little. I would put two chairs up against each other, and then drape blankets over the top, so they covered everything except for me inside. I would sit in there all day, reading books, drawing, playing on a gameboy. It was so difficult to get me out. My parents would have to bribe me with candy, and other sweets. So this is nice, it's like i'm a kid again."

"I used to do that too. You never get too old for it, I guess."

"Yeah, come on, let's put the blankets in so we don't have to sleep on the hard floor."

We padded the ground with a couple beach towels, and then multiple pillows and thick blankets to cushion our bodies while we sleep. After Hanna's, Aria's, and Spencer's tent was ready as well, we made our way back to the stage. The majority of the other students were already done with their set ups. Only a few were still trying to get their tent to stand. One of those few was a familiar face. It was Paige.

"Hey, Em, look." Hanna tapped on my shoulder. "Isn't that Paige?"

"Yeah, It is. I didn't even hear them call her name."

"Yeah, me neither. I guess we missed it."

Aria spoke, "Looks like she's having a hard time getting her tent to stay up."

"Is she alone?"

Hanna replied, "I don't think so, Spence. That blonde girl is helping her."

"No, I think the tent next to them belongs to the blonde her."

"Are they friends?"

I forced myself back into the conversation. "It doesn't really matter, does it? We're here to have fun. Let's not worry about Paige."

Moments after watching Paige and the mysterious blonde girl set up her tent, Marie stood up on the stage again with her microphone.

"Okay, it looks like everyone's done setting up their tent. It's pretty much night now. The sun's going down, and i'm sure you all know what that means." She took a deep breath. "You don't? It's something very traditional and cliché for a camping trip. We're going to sit around a camp fire and roast marshmallows."

Groans were heard after Marie mentioned the activity that was scheduled for the night.

"Oh, come on, guys! Alright, it's not a mandatory thing. Tonight is mainly just a meet and greet. Get to know your neighbors, have some fun, eat some smores. The showers are open for anyone to use. There's a bag of marshmallows, graham crackers, and chocolate in a bag down near the steps of this stage for you to use. Go have fun! I'll be waking you all up tomorrow at a certain time tomorrow to get ready for our first real activity." Maria stepped off the stage and made her way to the little shed in the woods.

I turned towards Maya, "What do you want to do?"

"I was thinking about taking a shower. I feel dirty after working on that tent," Maya replied.

"I was thinking about taking one too, but you go ahead. I'll take one after you."

"No, that just takes away time for us to spend together. You're going to take a shower with me."

My heart began to race at her words. _Me... taking a shower, with Maya? I get to see her... no, there are people around. _"Take a shower, with you?"

She stopped me, "No, that's not what I meant. I meant at the same time. I'm sure they have stalls in there, so we don't have to see each other." Maya's eyes scanned my body, "Not that it would bother me if we did." She grinned, and grabbed a change of clothes from her bag.

_Thank god, _I thought. Although, my heart was still racing at the thought.

Hanna walked up to me while I was searching through my bag for an extra shirt. "Hey, what are you and Maya doing?"

"We're going to go take a shower. What about you guys?"

"We're going to sit around the fire and eat those smores. Join us after?"

"Yeah, will do."

The showers did have stalls, so Maya and I couldn't see each other below the neck. It was a big relief knowing that she couldn't see me without any clothing on. Every once in awhile I would look over to watch her washing her hair. She looked so beautiful with water beading down her skin, and her fingers running through her hair to wash the soap out. In fact, Maya looked beautiful with just about everything that she did.

* * *

"You tired?"

"Not really. Even if I were I don't think I'd be able to sleep."

"Yeah, those guys out there are acting like idiots."

"Did you hear Noel yell, 'I'm going to jump over the fire'?"

"Yeah, I can't believe you almost dated him."

"Well, that's your fault. I was going for him because I couldn't be with you."

Maya and I were laying down in the tent together. It was late. We finished our shower, and sat down around the fire with our friends for awhile. Eventually, they got tired and went to sleep in their tents, but I have no idea how they could sleep. Other people were yelling, and laughing awfully loud outside. It didn't matter for us though, we weren't tired. Maya's arm was wrapped around me as we lied down against the many blankets and pillows we had placed to cushion the hard ground.

"What do you think we're going to do tomorrow?" I turned around to ask Maya.

"Hmm.." She rested her head against the palm of her hand, and pulled me in closer to her with the hand that was around me. "What are those things that people usually do at camp? Swim in the lake? Play duck, duck, goose?"

"Are you serious?" I let out a laugh. "We'll probably swim in a lake, I don't know. Maybe do one of those weird 3-legged races?"

"A 3-legged race, huh? That means we will be one," Maya took her arm from around me and took my hand in hers, locking our fingers together. "We'll be connected into the same person. Kind of like a marriage between two people in love. We'll breathe as one, we'll work as one, we'll survive as one." Her hand moved up from my hand, up my arm and to my cheek. Her thumb brushed across my lower lip.

I pushed my head forward to connect her lips to mine. My hands made their way to the back of Maya's neck. I lightly scratched her skin with my nails, and her hands went down to my hip. Our kiss went from long, passionate ones, to quick and heated ones. Our lips moved together feverishly. Her tongue moved across my bottom lip, and I could feel her hand slowly moving itself under the hem of my shirt. Her fingers lay still against the skin of my side.

We tried to be quiet, and not make much noise from our make-out session, but it didn't stop the noise of our kissing. While Maya's tongue was beginning to enter my mouth, someone began hitting the front of our tent.

"Hey, um, yeah, I appreciate your ability to be comfortable around us, your friends, but can you keep it down? We're trying to sleep and these tent fabrics aren't exactly walls, you know." Hanna had heard us, and forced us to pull apart.

"I guess we should go to sleep then."

Maya removed her hand from under my shirt, "That's too bad. I was having fun."

_So was I. _I liked the feeling of Maya's hand on my bare skin. I wanted to feel it again.

I turned over again to try and sleep. Maya pulled the blanket up to cover us up to our shoulders. Her arm was then making its way back to its original position, but this time, my shirt we raised a little from the movement. Her hand automatically went straight to my exposed skin. Quickly, she pulled it away.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to," I cut her off.

"No, it's... it's fine." I reached my hand over to hers and moved it back. Her arm was now resting across my hip, and her hand was laying flat against my bare stomach. After realizing that it wasn't uncomfortable for me, Maya began grazing her fingers across my skin, circling around my navel. At some points it tickled, and my muscles would tighten up. Maya seemed to noticed, because she'd let out quiet laughs of satisfaction when the muscles would tense. I didn't mind, because I liked the feeling. Her fingers spread out and pressed against my body. She lifted her head from the pillow and moved it close to my ear.

She whispered, "You, um, you have really nice abs."

I smiled, and began to blush. My head turned to press a soft kiss on her lips. "Goodnight."

Maya chuckled, "Sweet dreams."

* * *

"Hey, what's going on with Spencer?"

"She's having caffeine withdrawals."

It was now saturday morning. Maya and I showered before coming to the stage to hear for announcements on what was going to happen today. Spencer was leaning against a tree near the back of the stage. Her head was buried in between her knees. Aria and Hanna were close by.

"Oh not again. Spencer, you need to get out of that addiction."

"It's not an addiction," Spencer glared at me. She then looked at all of us, and our expressions. "Okay, fine, it's an addiction. I'll switch to decaf, sometimes."

While were talking, Marie had walked on stage. "Good morning, guys! I hope you slept well, because today you're going to need a lot of energy for our activities."

Spencer groaned.

"What we're first going to do is a little information game. It's easy, doesn't require a lot of movement, but you're going to need to get to know a few people for today. Learn to trust each other, now, what I want you to do is partner up with someone, but get in a circle while you do it. Your partner will be across from you. Good, that's it."

Maya and I partnered up. Spencer went with Hanna, and Aria went with Noel.

"Okay, now I want you the people in the outer circle to move to the left."

Maya pouted, and she took a step to the left. It was Spencer who was now partnered with me.

"Now that you're with someone different, I have a topic for you two to discuss for the next 30 seconds. Toothpaste!"

"Toothpaste? We're supposed to discuss toothpaste? Really? What kind of a question is that?" Spencer asked loudly to Marie.

"It's supposed to try and get you guys to find things in common. Discuss the toothpaste you use, flavors, brands, tube or bottle..."

Spencer cut her off, "I got it, thanks. Well, we know pretty much everything about each other, Em. You use that tubed blue kind with the small sparkled bits in it."

"They're little strips that mimic mouthwash, but, yeah, and you use the ultra whitener to compensate for the excessive amount of coffee you drink."

"You've got me all figured out." Spencer and I laughed, and then switched when the instructions were called. Noel was now it front of me.

"Hi, Emily."

"Hey, Noel." I crossed my arms at the sight of him. It felt awkward talking to him. I had no reason to be angry towards Noel, I just didn't prefer to speak to him, really.

Marie spoke again, "The topic is... being in pain!"

_How fitting. _

"I guess we're supposed to talk about things that hurt. Anything hurt with you? Maybe your break up with Ben?"

"It passed..."

"Oh, okay, that's good. Hey, just between you and me, when Maya rejected me, it sort of hurt. I liked her, a lot. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy being her friend, but it really sucks that I didn't get the chance to be more than that. Don't tell her though, it's a secret. Can't let my image be destroyed."

"Yeah, that would be bad." Suddenly, I was filled with anger, and pain. This was certainly not what I wanted to hear from him. _Just let it go, Emily. _

The circle moved around a few times until I met with Paige.

"Um, Em. I'm really, really-"

"It's okay. I just don't want to mention it again."

"No, I just want you to understand that it had nothing to do with any feelings for you. I know you're," Her voice lowered, "I know you're with Maya. I want you to know that I don't have romantic feelings for you. It was just in the moment. I'm not here to destroy your relationship or anything. I'm happy for you two."

"Thanks, I'm sorry that Hanna slapped you."

"It's fine. I deserved it. I hope you guys are okay, you and Maya."

"We're good, yeah. I told her what happened, she was upset for a few days, but it's good now. Don't worry."

"That's good."

We had completely ignored the topic. Paige and I were having our own conversation.

"So, are you sharing a tent with that blonde girl?"

"Oh, no. Her name's Samara, she's from Sheridan Prep. She was helping me out with my tent. I'm not great at these things. We've talked a little since then, she's cool. I like her."

"Too bad she doesn't go to our school then, huh?"

"What? No, I don't mean I like her that way. She's just nice."

"Switch!" Marie yelled into the microphone.

Nobody really seemed to like this activity. Most of it felt like standing around, doing nothing but making small talk with people that most of us already knew. After the circle activity, Marie separated us into 10 groups of 5. I was with Noel, Aria, a kid named Ricky from Sheridan Prep, and the girl that Paige was talking about, Samara.

"Okay, everyone! Now that you're in your groups, we're going to do a balance competition between the 10 teams. There are 10 thick, tough, wires that are stretched from tree to tree for about 20 feet. You're all going to have to get on the rope, and reach the end while all being connected in some way. The tree connects you. One person will get on the wire, and touch the tree. Then, you'll move yourself to the left to make room for the next person, they will get on. Now, you have to be connected. The person who just got on will need to touch the tree with one hand, while their other hand is touching the other person. Hold hands, grab shoulders, anything. Keep moving until all of you reach the end and get off. If one of you fall, you start over. The person in front will stop until you make it back into the line. It looks easy, but it's very hard and required a lot of balance. First team to complete it will gain not only the satisfaction of winning, but also, each person will receive 5 raffle tickets that you will be able to use at the party tomorrow night. Don't worry, there will be many other opportunities to receive raffle tickets. Each team, pick a tree and get started!"

"Don't worry, ladies, with these muscles I will lead us to victory." Noel leaned up against a tree and flexed his arms in front of Samara.

"I'm not really interested, um..."

"Noel."

"Noel, sorry. Let's get started though, shall we?" Samara clapped her hands and fastened herself in preparation for standing on the wire. As soon as her foot met the wire, it began to wobble and cause complications for standing. She would remove her other foot from the ground, and then set it right back down. It was obvious that this really was harder than it looked. Eventually, Samara got herself on. Her legs were shaking, and her hand was placed firmly on the tree to the right of her.

I got up next, it took some effort to gain balance after getting up. It was beyond wobbly. Samara placed her hand on my back, and I placed my on her shoulder.

We shifted slowly to the left to let Noel get on. Almost immediately after standing on the rope, he fell off and stumbled to his feet. We laughed at him for some time.

"Hey, it's only because you girls wear your heels all the time. You're used to balancing on them. I'm a dude. I don't wear heels. That's why I can't balance well, and I'm not ashamed of that.

"Oh, Noel, you poor, poor thing." Aria patted him on the back and lifted herself onto the wire.

After half an hour of failure, Maya's team won. She was with Spencer, and a few kids that I didn't recognize.

"Congratulations! You guys have just each won 5 raffle tickets. You may give them away, or use them for yourself tomorrow."

Maya smiled at me, and blew a kiss into the air.

"Okay, guys, we'll take a 15 minute break so you guys can hydrate yourselves and relax for a bit, but don't lose your competitive edge. Because, we'll be doing a riveting game of... tug-of-war!"

* * *

**Well, that's the end of that chapter! Again, so, so sorry for not updating for the past couple of days. I hope this chapter was an all right read for you guys. It took me a few hours to write. I didn't edit it much either, It's close to 5 am and I'm so tired. So I hope it isn't awfully written. I've been so caught up in this new show recently and it's basically all that I've been doing these past few days. Anyways, thank you all so much for you support. Your reviews have been so amazing, and it really encourages me to continue. I'm so surprised with the amount of readers and views I've received. I didn't think I'd get more than 100, but I'm in the 4,000 range, and my reviews have just hit 100. That's amazing. Thank you. Okay, guys. I hope to see you all next chapter! Later. (:**


	16. Update

Hey, guys. I feel really bad for not updating. Um, well, I've been in the hospital for awhile now. The day after I posted the previous chapter, I collapsed in the middle of the grocery store. It was sudden, and I didn't expect anything to be wrong with me. I'll probably be in here longer than I originally thought. I'm sick, and these treatments I'm doing are pretty harsh, and leave me tired, and in pain afterwards. It's hard for me to write. I can give you guys this update now because I've been kept for a day without any treatments. Tomorrow I'll be dealing with more, though. I hope to be out next month. I'll continue writing when I can. Thank you all so much for your support.

-Simplex


	17. Another Update

Hey, everyone. I'm sure I lost a lot of my readers since i've been gone for months. That's okay though. Maybe I'll get some new readers. I'm still in the hospital. I was in pretty bad shape. It was touch and go, and to be honest I was worried for my own life. Everything seems to be getting better. I've been a little depressed for awhile, having to stay in a room that smelled like sick people for months, and because of that and being sick I haven't been updating. I can't guarantee that chapters will be coming in quickly, or at all, but I am going to start trying again, because I did find joy in writing these for all of you. I hope you'll work with me for awhile. Thank you so much for all of your kind messages. They meant a lot, really.

-Simplex


	18. Chapter 16- Tug of War

**Hey everybody! I'm back with another chapter, and I know it has been months since I updated. If you've read my two recent update pages then you'd know that I've been in the hospital and that I've had some other issues going on as well. Hopefully you will forgive me. I'm finally trying to write again. I don't know how well this will go though. Since it has been so long i've had to re-read my whole story to try and remember what i've written and where I was going with it. It's been hard, but I had fun. So, here is chapter 16 and please read what I have to say at the end of the chapter as well.**

* * *

After half an hour of failure, Maya's team won. She was with Spencer, and a few kids that I didn't recognize.

"Congratulations! You guys have just each won 5 raffle tickets. You may give them away, or use them for yourself tomorrow."

Maya smiled at me, and blew a kiss into the air.

"Okay, guys, we'll take a 15 minute break so you guys can hydrate yourselves and relax for a bit, but don't lose your competitive edge. Because, we'll be doing a riveting game of... tug-of-war!"

"Who knew that the jock would lose, and the lazy band geek would win?" I said, as I walked towards Maya. There were a few strands of her hair that stuck to her forehead from the sweat. This seemingly easy task ended up causing every part of our bodies to sweat.

"Hey, jazz band geek, thank you." The corners of her mouth raised as she lightly pushed me with the palm of her hand. "I think that, after this trip, I will never leave the comfort of my house. I may never even leave the downstairs part of my house. Only 15 feet to get to the kitchen from the couch," Her eyebrows raised.

"Sounds like a plan. Come on, let's go get some water."

"Actually, I told Spencer that I would help her with something in her tent afterwards. I'll talk to you in a bit?" Maya's head tilted.

"Yeah, sure."

Maya skipped away towards Spencer's tent. I twirled around once she was out of sight, only to find Samara standing at the table with the big water jug. I walked towards her.

"Hey, it's Samara, right?"

"The one and the only," she did a short curtsy." You did a good job out there.

"We lost."

"That doesn't mean we didn't do well. You were very steady during the whole thing. Well, aside from the times that Noel grabbed you for support and ended up pulling you down with him."

I chuckled, "Yeah, I think he's a little embarrassed after that."

"He'll be okay. He's got all of those girls talking to him. See that one, in the red shorts?" Samara pointed towards the girl. "That's my friend Christy. She's playing with the back of her neck. That means she's into him. Something tells me that Noel will be all right."

"He'll be more than all right." I reached down at the table for a paper cup to fill with water.

"So, you look like you're in good shape. Do you play any sports?"

"I'm on the swim team. I'm captain, actually. I run sometimes too."

"That's awesome! I bet your parents are so proud."

I thought that that was sort of a weird comment, but I ignored it. "Yeah, I guess."

"Okay, everyone!" Marie ran past Samara and I, leaving our ears ringing from the megaphone. Let's walk on over to the lake so we can play our game of tug-of-war!"

Aria, Noel, Samara, Ricky, and I grouped up again and followed the crowd down the pathway to the lake. It wasn't small, but it wasn't large either. On the edge of the lake, there was a wooden walkway that took us to an area over the water. Once you got onto the middle of the larger platform, there were two separate, smaller walkways that lead you onto a log that has been cut so the top was flat. A gap was in between the two logs, which made it so that if you lost, you would wall into the water.

"We're going to have a tournament between the 10 teams. After half of the teams are eliminated, there will be an uneven number of teams to play. So, one of the previously losing teams will have to play against one of the winning teams. If the winning team wins, they go on for the finals. If they lose, then they will not go on to the finals, and neither will the losing team, because they already lost. If they do win, then, well, again we'll have an uneven number. Let's just roll with it for now. This is a messed up system. Okay, let's have some fun!"

Marie handed all of us different colored bandanas for each team. Ours were green. I tied mine around my wrist. I watched as Maya tied her red one around her forehead. "First, I want green team against the black team."

I walked on top of the log, along with my team. Hanna was on the black team, and she situated herself in the middle of everyone. A guy from Maya's band was in front of her.

"When I blow my whistle, you guys will begin tugging on the rope. The first team to have someone fall into the water, loses, and the team that wins moves on to the next round. Ready, set," Marie then blew into the whistle, and the crowd of people watching both of our teams started to shout their words of encouragement to their favorite team.

We decided on me to be in the front. I wasn't so strong, but I was fit. More fit than the others in our team, aside from Noel. He was put in the back.

I tugged on the rope with all of my strength. It took only a matter of seconds before it began to burn my skin. I wasn't focusing on breathing. All of my air went into my puffed out cheeks that were turning red from the lack of oxygen. While I was pulling with all of my might, I heard Noel chuckle in the back.

"Hey, Hanna, your cell phone is about to fall from your pocket."

I couldn't see Hanna, and I bet that Noel couldn't either. Shortly after Noel's statement, I felt the rope become easier to tug on, and in one quick moment, we pulled the other team far enough so that they all fell into the water.

Noel jumped off the log and back onto the platform to fish the people out of the water. Hanna's head popped up, and she shook her wet hair around. Noel extended his hand out, "need some help?"

"My Mom is going to kill me." She reached her hand out back, and was pulled from the water. With fear in her eyes she reached down to her shorts and opened her mouth, "I don't even have pockets."

"I know." Noel smirked, and walk towards some of his guy friends who congratulated him with a fist bump.

* * *

Maya was sitting on the ground. I began to walk towards her, and her head shot up at the sight of me. She smiled.

"Having fun?"

"My hands still hurt."

"Will a kiss make them better?" She grinned, and tilted her head.

"Possibly, but we're surrounded by people. So, maybe later."

"All right, all right," Maya smiled, while reaching out to grab my arm so I could help her up.

"A part of me wishes that we lost. I would have loved to swim in the water for just a few seconds."

"Well, if we win the semi-finals like your team and we end up in the finals together, i'll be sure to kick your ass." Her body twirled around at the sound of team red being called up to the log.

Maya too was in the front of the team. She gripped the rope with both hands. Her knees bent down slightly, and she leaned back to pull the rope with more force.

About half a minute passed, and Maya's team won. It looked as though most of the kids on the other team were getting tired, and led up on the rope just enough for Maya and her team to send them falling down into the water. After they won, Maya walked back towards where I was.

"Looks like we just might duel after all."

"Okay, guys! You've all done so well. This has been so awesome to watch, really great, it was really fun. But, not everyone is a winner. So here we are at the final match. Red team versus the green team!" Marie hopped up and down to express her excitement. "Go ahead and shake hands with your enemy."

I walked towards Maya with my hand extended. "Good luck, you'll need it."

She laughed, "Thanks, but, hey, did you notice that our team colors, red and green, compliment each other?" Her laugh continued, and she shook my hand before getting up on the log opposite of mine.

We situated ourselves on the log. Marie yelled, "Three, two, one..," and then blew into the whistle.

Immediately at the sound of the whistle, both teams tugged at the rope with full intent on winning. I could hear Hanna, Spencer, and Aria all yelling in the background for me to win.

I had thought that this would be an easy round. We had already played multiple times, and our hands were stained with rope burns. We were all pretty tired from the previous rounds, but neither team led up on the rope for even one second.

I looked at Maya. She was staring at me, smiling. Her eyes glanced down at the rope, and then back up to mine. She winked, and I felt the rope become easier to pull. Maya went crashing down into the water, but, she continued to hold the rope with both hands. Which ended with our own team falling into the water, along with Maya's team.

The dark and cold water soaked my clothing. The lake was deep enough to go over my head and completely submerge me, but I could still reach the bottom with my toes. While under the water, I felt two hands placed themselves on my waist, and I swam up to see Maya in front of me. I shook the water off my face.

"Maya!"

"What? No thank you? Look, you're in the water! Exactly what you wanted."

"Yeah, and so are you."

"Well, I just wanted to take a swim with you". Maya jumped out of the water and landed back first with a splash. She remained there, floating.

"Okay, since both teams fell in the water, we'll just have to decide the winners as the team who fell in second. So, green team wins!" Marie shouted.

"Congratulations," Maya said.

I splashed water in her face, and she did the same.

* * *

"Okay everyone gather around the stage please!" Marie called us over to her. We played games all day. We did the 3 legged race just like Maya and I had guessed. We also played a game of Red Rover, most of us thought we were too old to play such a game, but it turned out to be a fun game, one thing that scared a lot of us was the zip line. We walked about a mile into the woods where it was, and some refused to climb the pole and complained about the pointless walk in the woods since they weren't going to do the zip line.

"Today has been a great day. I'm sure you're all very tired you want to go to sleep so I will make this short. Tomorrow is the last night we will be here at the campgrounds. Yes, yes I know you're all very sad, but tomorrow night is also the night that we will be hosting the big halloween party! So tomorrow when you wake up you will be required to help set up, and afterwards you have the rest of the day to do what you like. At 7 o'clock is when the party will start. It'll be a really great time so I hope you enjoy yourselves. The raffle will also be hosted during the party, so gather your tickets! Okay, goodnight everybody!" Marie stepped down the stage and into the showers.

"We have to set up the party too?" Spencer looked surprised.

Aria turned towards Spencer, "Yeah, but i'm sure it won't take long. What, did you have something else to do?"

"I was just hoping that I could run and train all day tomorrow for field hockey."

"I'm sure you'll be fine. This whole weekend has been taxing. Anyways, I'm going to go hit the showers, I feel pretty gross." I turned towards the showers, Hanna, Spencer, Aria, and Maya all followed in agreement.

* * *

"Tomorrow sounds like it will be fun." Maya turned towards me. We were in the tent and it was late at night.

"Yeah, hopefully. You've got yourself a lot of tickets don't you?"

"I was thinking about maybe giving them to Noel. He saw a fake samurai sword inside Marie's cabin and thinks that it's one of the items to be raffled off."

"That's very Noel-like."

"Is it?" Maya smiled and leaned in to kiss me. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight."

* * *

**Phew. It's been a long time since I've written and I have no idea how this went. I seriously apologize if some things aren't accurate. I may have forgotten some things. My characters may be a little off too. But enough of the fic I wanted to fill you guys in about my life really quick. **

**I've started my junior year of HS. I've turned 16. I've been in the hospital. I'm not being home schooled, or hospital schooled, i'm just getting all of my work sent to me. It's pretty tough. I'm taking more advanced courses so I'm very busy most of the time. I'm getting better too. I should be out sooner or later. Hopefully you guys have been well! I probably lost a lot of my original readers. That sucks, but it's okay, because there will always be some new readers, and that's great too. (: This story might change a little from now on, because I have new ideas. The characters and the voice may change for a little while too, because I need to get back into a groove of some sorts. Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope this wasn't too awful! Later. (: **


End file.
